'The American' (R) (out of four)

When you're a household name and one of Hollywood's highest paid actors, you can just about do any movie you'd like. If you've made your home in another country, say Italy, the director will come to you. The movie studio will promote it heavily, and fans will flock to the box office.

In George Clooney's case, that's the stuff that "The American" is made of.

In the film, based on Martin Booth's spy novel "A Very Private Gentleman," Clooney plays Jack, a moody weapons maker and assassin who is tired of mistrusting everyone he meets, and hiding out from would-be killers.

When we first meet Jack, he's happy to be in an isolated cabin with a beautiful woman. She joins him for a walk in the countryside and they take in the fresh air of the snowy landscape. There is no one to fear here. Moments later, however, there is.

He's forced to flee Sweden, and heads to Rome. He'll do one more job, he tells his "boss," played by Belgian actor Johan Leysen, who has more lines on his face than he has in the movie.

A loose plot, with stilted and limited dialogue, follows Jack (now Edward) to Abruzzo where he'll complete his mission. He tells a priest he meets that he's a photographer for National Geographic. He holes up in a run-down apartment where he does pull ups and sit ups and reads books about butterflies.

Dutch director Anton Corbijn creates a ploddingly concise movie, but much of the film gets lost in procedures, mostly Edward's creation for a client of a precise sharp shooter. She's a secretive female named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten), and you're not sure if she's buying the instrument to kill her husband or if it's intended for a head of state. She does tell Edward down to the letter how she wants the gun to be fitted, right down to the mercury bullets. All of this detail is repeated in a rather longish scene where the two go to a field to try out the gun.

Edward finds a love interest in a prostitute named Clara (Violante Placido), but even she isn't to be trusted. And the priest (Paolo Bonacelli) who he's shared a drink and conversation with could be in on some sinister plot as well. Each one of them takes turns unraveling Edward's formerly hard-boiled assassin soul that's recently turned soft.

"The American" is another espionage film in the same vein as the "Bourne" series or the more recent "Salt." Edward is a moving target. Edward has a secret, Edward wants out of the killing business, but will he make it out alive?

Clooney's comfort level with Italy definitely shines through. For the past few years, the actor has made Lake Como his home, his girlfriend (and rumored fiancée) is Italian model Elisabetta Canalis, and starred in an Italian commercial recently for espresso machines.

"The American" is a very European film, which makes it better than most American spy films which go overboard explaining plot. And despite its Hollywood pedigree, "The American" has a quaint, independent feel to it.

However, Martin Booth's book is better, meatier, and delves deeper into what makes this character tick. But for all intents and purposes, Clooney now has an Italian movie under his belt. A Giorgio Armani belt, of course.