George Clooney returns to our shores amid little fanfare, in a criminal role that fails to hit the heights the Ocean’s Eleven star usually reaches.

The American disappointed at the US box office on its release in September, and while there are a few reasons for that, this reviewer sees them as virtues rather than vices.

The pacing is almost glacially slow throughout, so anyone ex-pecting Bourne-levels of mayhem is likely to leave disappointed.

After a superb opening sequence in the snow fields of Sweden the film settles into a stately groove, breaking now and then for the oc-casional slice of expertly choreo-graphed violence.

The final procession sequence

builds slowly before being released like a coiled spring, and leads to an ending that might prove too am-biguous for some.

Clooney puts in a stellar per-formance, deliberately stripping Jack of almost any emotion be-sides angst and paranoia.

Looking leaner than usual, he

plays a man constantly on the edge of violence who commits violent acts without any hesitation or re-morse.

While it makes for a convinc-ing hitman, Jack’s remoteness, compounded by the fact we learn almost nothing about him, makes it difficult to root for him, argua-

bly leaving the film without much heart.

What warmth there is comes from Violante Placido’s Clara, a local prostitute with whom Jack becomes close.

Placido smoulders, giving a per-formance full of all the passion and humanity that Jack lacks.

While it’s not perfect and it won’t be for everyone, The Ameri-can is a fine film full of tension and adrenalin.

Rewarding the patient and brim-ming with stunning cinematog-raphy, it’ll appeal to anyone who likes their thrillers with a bit of subtlety.

By Dan Blows

The American is out now

ENTERTAINMENT 21Friday November 26 - Thursday December 9 2010

The latest cinema releasesBIG SCREEN

NO STING IN THIS TALE

THE third and final instal-ment by Stieg Larsson revolves around violence, abuse, family feuds and above all revenge.

The mystery surrounding the main character Lisbeth, played by Sweden’s own Noomi Ra-pace, is finally revealed after run-ning throughout all three thrillers untouched.

Although the complexity is there on occasion it lacks action, meaning it was the opposite of what I expected.

The film however did manage to keep my attention even if cer-tain scenes were too graphic for an unsuspecting audience.

The amount of drama and sus-pense packed into this subtitled film keeps you on the edge of your seat.

However, two and a half hours later you begin to feel that the story could have been told in a lot less time if some of the vio-lent and sometimes unnecessary scenes were cut.

If you enjoy watching films with conspiracies involving jour-nalists and lawyers making sure that justice prevails, it might be the right movie for you.

Soon to be taken by America and made into a Hollywood film The Girl Who Kicked the Hor-net’s Nest is a decent film.

With plenty of drama it draws a solid conclusion to this disturb-ing and harrowing tale.

By Ken Matriano

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is out now

HE’S blue, he has a giant head and for the millionth time, it’s a battle between good and evil - very original!

These are the first things that come to mind when watching the new DreamWorks comedy Mega-mind.

The producers of Shrek bring a witty and funny superhero comedy to our screens, but this story comes with a twist as it champions the bad guy instead of the good.

Featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and the king of com-edy Will Ferrell, this film revolves around three very charming char-acters: Megamind; a brilliant yet

unsuccessful super-villain; Metro Man, a popular goodie-two-shoes superhero and Roxanne, a hard to impress female reporter used as bait in Megamind’s evil plan.

The adventures of Megamind (Ferrell) begin with flashbacks of his childhood where he remem-bers the very first encounter with his future arch-nemesis Metro Man (Pitt).

After crash-landing on earth, both are destined to lead very dif-ferent paths.

The plot only really takes off when the geeky baddie traps his do-gooder nemesis Metro Man by holding Roxanne (Fey) hostage.

As any superhero would, Metro Man is determined to rescue the damsel in distress, only to be op-posed and defeated by his lifelong rival.

After years of unsuccessful plans, Megamind finally achieves his ultimate goal: conquering Met-ro City.

But his success is soon jeopard-ised when he accidentally clones Metro Man’s DNA into Hal, a chubby cameraman hopelessly in love with Roxanne. Chaos arises in Metro City, forcing the blue-skinned, super genius to step in and save the day.

This computer-animated story is

a fresh spin on the usual superhero cliché. It is fun, clever and above all an entertaining film for all ages.

Ferrell’s goofy voice is perfect for the stick-thin, giant headed character Megamind.

Always accompanied by his faithful companion Minion, a fish with a robot and gorilla body, Meg-amind is a villain turned hero who will win you over after his transfor-mation from evil to good.

By Andrea Trachsel

Megamind is released in UK cinemas on December 3

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