MovieChat Forums > The American (2010) Discussion > Assassin or gun maker?

Assassin or gun maker?

posted 11 years ago by ljriffel
2 replies | jump to latest

Maybe in the book it is clear, but I just rewatched this remembering Clooney as an assassin yet in the film he only shoots people that are after him, plus he is pretty good at making a sound suppressor out of car parts so now I'm thinking he is not an assassin but instead the guy you use to get a gun for an assassination. We don't know why the Swedes shoot at him in the beginning. Maybe Pavel was trying to take him out from the start? So the job Pavel sends him to do at Castelvecchio is another attempt to kill him with the gun he builds for Mathilda, a fellow assassin.

[–] wysoft 11 years ago

The entire sequence of smuggling in the Mini-14 and building a suppressor really didn't make much sense to me, and here's why:

- Guns are pretty easy to come by in Italy, both legally and illegally, even semi-automatic rifles of various types. The entire plot point of Clooney's character being the one to provide the firearm and smuggling it in from the US, is pretty pointless.

- No need to build a suppressor from scratch in the way that he did, when an automotive oil filter works just as well, mounted to the muzzle with a small thread adapter that can be easily made with most average shop tools - but it wouldn't make for a very cool movie sequence.

[–] pjmcgill142 11 years ago

Good information there, Wysoft. I would have thought the director could have made the same 'cool' movie sequence using the oil filter and stuff too. Maybe he didn't want to purchase any of the items he used and he didn't find an oil filter in the workshop. Just throwing it out there. I might be wrong, but the movie implied the firearm arrived in pieces arriving from different locations. He then, when required, modified each piece to ensure it assembled correctly.

I did think they would never make a US version of this movie. George, slightly bored, in line at the local Walmart ready to purchase his minigun (for home defence) and silencer (he's a thoughtful neighbour)... wouldn't have the same impact, would it?