The American (2010)

You have got to love main characters for not talking too much. In THE AMERICAN the main character (George Clooney) doesn't waste words with anybody. He makes guns to custom-fit his customers and his life is threat-ened (probably) from the crowd he runs with. What I found to be kewl was the suspense created by the lack of information about his life and the perils opposed to it.  The way our protagonist looks at the the woman he's picnicking with magnifies the fact this is no ordinary man and no ordinary circumstance. We don't need words and I'd rather watch a movie filling in details this way than artificial dialogue. Nothing is forced here and the danger gripped me forcing me to want to know more but the movie REALITY here made us do so not using Hollywood conventions or by the workings of the director's magic wand, but as the story allowed.  The sparse background of the characters in this film makes the drama real as if we were their neighbors wondering what the people living across the street did. Nothing overdone. Boy I spent a lotta time peering out the window. [4.5 stars]