By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Ian McShane ("John Wick: Chapter 4") is aging nicely. He looks great in the new movie
"American Star" from director
Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego (TV's "Neboa") and screenwriter
Nacho Faerna (TV's "Bose").
In the film McShane plays Wilson, a hitman from London who is on a final assignment in Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands. His mission is to take out a major drug dealer. Wilson is always prepared. He has all the intelligence on the guy and everything about his amazing villa. It seems like a routine job.
Wilson arrives at the scenic beach paradise home only to find his target is nowhere around. However, an attractive young woman (Nora Arnezeder, Upcoming "Tin Soldier"), arrives on a motorcycle, makes her way into the house and takes a dip in the pool.
Now what is he supposed to do?
Well, Wilson decides not to let all this glorious paradise go to waste. He hasn't had a vacation in God know knows when. So, rather than head back to London, he calls his bosses and finds out that drug dealer took off to handle some business. Wilson stays put on the island and enjoys the down time.
It's easy to see that he has more on his mind than this final kill. Wilson is a man of few words. Although he does make time to get to know Gloria (Arnezeder), a local bartender whose mother (Fanny Ardent, "Well Done!" and "Back to Alexandria") is quite a looker too. He even offers some sage advice to a cute kid named Max (Oscar Coleman, "All the Old Knives" and "Bridgerton") who is on vacation with his parents and clearly bored to death.
There's an intriguing mystery surrounding Wilson that in part centers around his desire to see the "American Star" an old American cruise ship christened in 1939. It was shipwrecked near Fuerteventura during the 1990s.
Yet, the movie strings you along and the characters--although interesting, particularly Wilson's boss Ryan (Adam Nagaitis, TV's "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon") --are never quite fully developed. By the time the final act rolls around, it's almost anti-climactic.
Perhaps after being in the action-packed drama "John Wick: Chapter 4," McShane needed to experience a nice, nuanced, quiet and slow-moving film. "American Star" sure fits the bill.
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Look At This Trailer For
"AMERICAN STAR"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
