Edelstein re: Clooney in 'The American'

David Edelstein reviews 'The American':

The American is full of passages with pauses, hidden agendas, minutiae. There are long scenes in which Jack does nothing but construct a weapon to a female client's specification for purposes unknown: a machine gun with the range of a rifle and a device to disguise the shooter's location. (...)

That was where Clooney lived in his last movie, too, Up in the Air, and I get a sense he's trying to deepen his persona. That might be a doomed enterprise. Clooney is naturally gregarious, a disarmingly handsome smoothie with a toasty, caressing voice. He pulled off the brooding thing in Michael Clayton, but he doesn't here.

That's the feel I get from trailers. A moody, intelligent piece with lots of internal acting. My kind of film -- I prefer this over pyro smash and grab movies -- and will probably enjoy it on disc sometime. This is finely wrought to be sure, but it plays on perhaps too small a palette to appeal to a broad audience.