George Clooney's latest movie is titled THE AMERICAN, but it's anything but a typical American movie. Clooney plays an assassin named Jack (or Edward depending on who he's talking to) who is tortured by recent events, seems weary of his life and has a love of butterflies. An American movie of the same genre would feature louder music, bigger bangs and screeching chases. Instead this is a quiet movie, or as quiet as a movie about a man who kills people for a living can be. Clooney doesn't say much, he doesn't have to. His feelings are written all over his face. Anton Corbijn lets his camera do the talking. There are no grand speeches, and no preaching (except from a priest). Just scenes of tension and loneliness that tell us all we need to know about “Jack's” life. There are no real big twists or reveals or gotchas. This is a movie for adults, for people who think and people who's minds haven't been blasted to mush by the latest summer blockbuster. Not the best movie of the summer, but one of Clooney's best in years. — Alan Yudman