Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Amateur.
Rami Malek’s new spy thriller,The Amateur, has recently hit theaters, and despite some highly entertaining scenes, the movie actually gave away one of its best in the trailer.The Amateurfollows CIA cryptographer Charlie Heller, who decides to strike out on his own when his wife, Sarah, is killed during a terrorist attack in London. Initially working a desk job, Charlie uses his intelligence to force his superiors to give him field training before setting out to murderSarah’s killers inThe Amateur.
While Charlie’s sensitivity is highlighted further by the character learning that he does not have what it takes to pull the trigger on someone, he does have the know-how to kill his targets using other methods before ultimately finding justice inThe Amateur’s ending. It is this balance of grief with action and revenge that makesThe Amateurso compelling, but there is one scene that sadly didn’t have the impact it should have.
The Amateur’s Pool Scene Was Terrifying, But It Was Spoiled In The Movie’s Trailer
One Of The Most Impressive Scenes Lost Its Impact
AfterRami Malek’s characterdecides to hunt down his wife’s killers, he finds one, Blazhic, in a luxury hotel in Madrid. Learning that Blazhic likes to swim alone each night, Charlie rigs the pool’s glass bottom to break at the push of a button. When Blazhic refuses to give Charlie what he needs, Charlie proceeds to kill him in one of the most creative death scenes in any spy movie. Whilethe exploding pool scene was undeniably cool to watch, I can’t help but feel that it actually lost a lot of its importance by appearing in the film’s trailer.
Charlie not being able to shoot people is a big part of his character and makes the kills much more creative. This becomes clear early on when Charlie traps Gretchen in a hypobaric chamber and fills it with pollen, but the pool scene is the best example. If audiences didn’t know that was going to happen, it would have been a major shock when that scene came up, buthaving already seen the best kill just leaves viewers feeling underwhelmed and wanting more when it actually happens.
How The Amateur’s Pool Scene Was Filmed - Is It A Real Location?
The Pool Is Actually Part Of A Real Residential Building
Some of the intensity of the pool scene may have been lost thanks to it appearing in the trailer, but howThe Amateur’s team managed to film it is still very cool. The rooftop pool does exist, andit is part of the Embassy Gardens residential buildings in London. The film’s director, James Hawes, shared withThe Hollywood Reporterthat while parts of the scene were necessarily done using CGI, a lot of it was actually captured on camera in a way that helped the moment feel authentically terrifying.
Hawes shared that the team built “a life-size section of it in the studio so that [they] could explode it and drop it,” making the pool shattering look real. Dan Wilson, a producer, also shared withThe Hollywood Reporterthat the pool’s collapse was filmed in one shot so they wouldn’t have to reset. Knowing how difficult it was to pull that scene together, it makes sense thatThe Amateur’s creators would want everyone to see the impressive result. However, it still would have felt more gratifying ifThe Amateurhad saved one of its best scenes for theaters.
