This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Who Guards the GuardiansThriller?
Plot Overview
Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is a
cryptographer in the CIA. He declines to accompany his wife Sarah
(Rachel Brosnahan) on her four day conference trip to London. They
live in rural Virginia where we see her wearing a dress reaching
down to her ankles. Perhaps she is strictly religious à la
(1Tim. 2:9-10) “that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with
shamefastness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or
gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women
professing godliness) with good works.” More
likely it's to deflect the scrutiny of the conservative
country folk from her husband's secrets. In London she wears a
pants suit, as in author Sebastian Faulks's description of the
French Occupation: “Charlotte noticed that the clothes and
her suitcase were not out of place among the Parisians, most
of whom seemed to have abandoned their usual chic” (345). In
a flashback we see she does wear a chic mini-skirt when she
brings her husband to a hangar to receive his birthday present
from her. She knows how to dress and for whatever reason wants
to avoid male advances while she's away.
That makes it all the more ironic—the first of many
ironies—when terrorists in her conference building needing a
hostage to escape the police grab the woman in pants figuring her
for a walking shield. She had stood to help a woman—more
“good works”? To let the cops know they mean business,
they shoot her. Deskbound Charlie decides to go after the four
culprits and overcomes the reluctance of his higher ups to
train him by threatening blackmail with goodies he's smuggled
out via the copy machine. They assign their best man Colonel Robert
Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) for the job. When he discovers
Charlie can't shoot, that he'd be lucky to hit a barn door from
point blank range & he's too inhibited to shoot a man, he gives
him up as a lost cause. By then it's too late (“Let's not
underestimate him.”) Charlie has flown the coop
(“He has an IQ of 170.”)
While eluding capture by
his masters Charlie tracks down three accomplices: former Armenian
intelligence officer Gretchen Frank (Barbara Probst), South African
ex-special forces operative Ellish (Joseph Millson), and Belarusian
criminal Mishka Blazhic (Marc Rissmann.) He puts them through
paces of a triathion: running, swimming and jumping as the
case may be, forcing them to die with their boots on (or off.) The
triggerman Horst Schiller (Michael Stuhlbarg) gets special
treatment of a slow draw contest. Professionals prefer to come up
against their own; amateurs are too unpredictable.
Ideology
One might think that Charlie wasn't too attached to his wife, the way he let her go off without him, but that' just not so. He ran alongside the car as she was leaving, while she took pictures of him through the window. He could be the poster boy for (Eccl. 4:9-12) “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Charlie is a regular MacGyver the
way his place is festooned with projects, but it's his wife who
procures the parts and brings him the raw material. He made one
helluva coffee maker from them, and they both enjoy the brew;
“they have a good reward for their labour.”
“If they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.” When Charlie has fallen from grace of his boss SAC Director Alex Moore (Holt McCallany) who wants to “take him off the board,” he turns to a private source Inquiline, Russian widow Davies (Caitríona Balfe,) to hide him out. Her husband was KGB who taught her the ropes.
“But woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” When CIA Director Samantha O'Brien (Julianne Nicholson) gets wind of what's happening, she sends someone to interdict the hit man Col. Henderson, and they have it out in the men's room while milksop Charlie watches on but dare not intervene. Henderson gets trounced.
“Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?” From loneliness the widow Davies asks to lie with Charlie for comfort, and they sleep together in a chaste embrace. There are also scenes where widower Charlie sleeps alone in a king size bed.
“And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him.” Henderson has Charlie trapped, but he is able to escape with intervention from the director's man.
“And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” With the director and Henderson and Charlie all on the same page, they're irresistible.
Production Values
“” (2025) was directed by James Hawes. It was written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, based on the novel The Amateur: A Novel of Revenge (1981) by Robert Littell. It stars Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan and Jon Bernthal. Also featured are Adrian Martinez as Carlos, Charlie's co-worker, Alice Hewkin as Ali Park, Henry Garrett as the Chief of Staff, and Takehiro Hira as The Professor. Malek and Laurence Fishburne were great, but they all were swell.
MPA rated it PG–13 for some strong violence, and language. It sets up some premises and then sticks to them at the expense of realism, but in a spy movie, who cares? Lots of action and lots of surprises. Foreign locations galore. Runtime ≈ 2 hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The wife, the widow and the director were prime examples of the best in womanhood, but the Armenian terrorist was a bitch. Transparency in the agency was a just cause. Brains over brawn seems to be the motif. It's good that there are still some good guys around.
I found the movie clever and cute, with its share of tense action. It should appeal to espionage buffs who'd like a little variety.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769, 1873. Software, print.
Faulks, Sebastian. Charlotte Gray. Copyright © 1998 by Sebastian Faulks. New York: Random House, Inc., 1999. First US edition. Print.
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