1 Year Later, Prime Video's Forgotten Spy Thriller Is Officially Finding New Life

Published Aug 21, 2026, 4:30 AM EDT

Molly DeCastro is a New York-based emerging film and entertainment journalist with a personal passion for poetic prose and impactful storytelling. She graduated from Pace University with a degree in English and a concentration in creative writing. While film analysis is at the heart of her work, she is especially interested in exploring cinema through an anthropological lens and in examining how creative themes reflect cultural identity. She aims to forge a deep connection between audiences and film through thoughtful and evocative writing.

She also enjoys keeping up with all things film! That means specializing in industry news, emerging directors, and stand-out projects.

James Hawe's gripping espionage thriller The Amateur captures the legendary Rami Malek as Charlie Heller, a brilliant CIA operative with an increasingly tragic story. In an unlikely twist, Heller's sharp intelligence becomes his ultimate weapon as he attempts a dangerous trek across the globe to capture a terrorist group that is responsible for the untimely murder of his wife. Despite the arguably seen-before premise, this edge-of-your-seat flick proves that a skilled cast keeps an unoriginal plot from folding in on itself. Aside from Malek at the helm, the Prime Video series features a star-studded support cast including, but not limited to, Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, and Lawrence Fishburne.

Rather than going for the brawny, brooding, machismo-infused action star trope, The Amateur takes a different approach. Heller is quite literally unraveling as the film persists. He's vulnerable and at times appears genuinely irreparably broken. He's not a muscle-bound action hero with a sob story that he occasionally seems to care about; rather, he is entirely consumed by it. Evidently, it informs all of his choices, making for a thrilling watch with incredibly moving performances. Critics and audiences alike have pointed to this quality as the film's penultimate strength.

Why is Apple TV's 'The Amateur' Getting an Overwhelming Second Wave of Praise?

Image via 20th Century Studios

The interesting part of the film is the fact that while it's a spy thriller, the plot is not as mysterious as one might expect. Heller's mission is as straightforward and clear as it could possibly be, and while there are enough twists and turns to keep an audience occupied, his objective is set in stone from the very beginning. Unlike other films of a similar ilk, take The Bourne Identity or Mission Impossible, for example, the plot is propelled primarily by Charles' deteriorating mental state, and yet his unrelenting pursuit of revenge, rather than real action or mystery. He's an extremely regular guy, trying to be a killer, plain and simple. And it's the unraveling caused by that push and pull that makes for a truly thrilling watch.

Additionally, the moral conundrum Charles finds himself in is rather interesting. The men who killed his wife were hired to do so by a big bad guy. In some way, can't it be argued that Heller, working as the brain for the CIA on its own, isn't so different from the position of his antagonists? Doubly, now on a ruthless odyssey across the globe, in a state of true unadulterated blood thirst, isn't Charles quite literally in the exact same moral standing? Critics and audiences have found Malek's portrayal of the former desk jockey turned nerdy vigilante rather charming, and point to both his performance and the film's commentary on the matter as the resounding reason to return to it.

At the time of its release, with a reported budget of $60 million, The Amateur grossed nearly $100 million worldwide. It was warmly embraced by audiences, and now holds an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, and more recently has surged on Prime Video, and jumped to the number two spot, just behind Masters of the Universe and slightly ahead of The Devil's Mouth. The heavy lifting for the film's success is rightfully in the hands of Malek. However, it can also be argued that it was given a slight push due to the popularity of streaming and the ability to unearth a sleeper hit when scrolling through Prime's inventory. Whatever it may be, this film is undoubtedly gripping and certainly deserving of this second wave of popularity.

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  Heller

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  Director Moore

The Amateur: Following a personal tragedy in a London terrorist attack, a CIA cryptographer confronts internal agency conflicts and coerces his superiors into training him to pursue the perpetrators himself. Released in 2025, the film explores themes of vengeance and bureaucratic impasse.