Movie Review: The American

Sept. 3 2010, Published 2:50 p.m. ET
A mysterious man fends off killers, drives mopeds like a pro and knows the mechanics of foreign women and discreet guns like he was born with a passport and a killer instinct. We don’t learn much about this rugged, James Bond-like figure known as Jack, then Edward, and finally, Mr. Butterfly (except that he’s George Clooney in real life), but somehow it’s mesmerizing watching his every move in deliberate, slow takes, and often set to brooding music.
Movie Review: Going The Distance
In The American, Clooney plays an archetypal loner whose work involves a lot of bullets, bloodshed and hiding. The tension is palpable from the the first moments, when Mr. B’s idyllic Swedish getaway is cut short by guy