As the narrative in ‘The Amateur’ comes to its crescendo, Charlie Heller is warned by a close friend about the dangers of his obsessive pursuit of vengeance, his actions risking more than he can handle, and that justice is not easily achieved. Ignoring this warning, Charlie proceeds to an unfamiliar territory to finally face his main target, putting his life on the line. Once he realizes that he is in the endgame, he faces a difficult choice. The protagonist must choose between violence and peace and consider the cost of his actions on his soul. His experience as a CIA analyst, his risky journey of revenge, and his memories with his wife are all put at stake as he executes his final play. What follows is a thrilling and claustrophobic scenario. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Amateur Plot Synopsis
Charlie Heller is a brilliant computer analyst and decoder who works for the CIA. He lives a happy life with his beautiful wife, Sarah, with whom he shares a close bond. Sarah is particularly appreciative of her husband’s coffee-making skills. A broken-down Cessna aircraft lies in their garage, something that Sarah hopes will be fixed by Charlie and take flight someday. Sarah, who has a five-day work trip to London, tells Charlie that he should stop worrying about his work, take a breather, and accompany her abroad. It is visible that she finds it hard to be away from him, even for a few days. Charlie, however, is averse to traveling and bids goodbye to her. He is unexpectedly summoned into the Director’s office by Chief Moore, where it is revealed that Sarah was killed in a conference in London by assailants.
Devastated and overcome by grief, Charlie cannot process the shock easily. He requests that Moore and Caleb, another senior officer, act on the case and find Sarah’s killers, but he doesn’t get the help he expected. Betrayed by the system, he decides to take matters into his own hands and get justice for his wife by killing the perpetrators and proving that her life matters. Faced with overwhelming odds, the computer genius enters the world of spycraft and deception with only an amateur level of training and no experience in taking someone’s life.
After preparing for his risky quest, he finds out that a strange woman calling herself ‘Inquiline’ is his sole source of help, and with a set of CIA-issued documents, he goes on a revenge mission to different parts of the world, searching for the assailants. What follows is a brutal game of cat and mouse between Charlie, his wife’s killers, and the CIA that hasn’t officially sanctioned this personal revenge mission across many foreign territories. He risks not only his life but also his agency’s credibility in the journey. Charlie must make tough decisions and use skills he never knew he had to bring his wife’s killers to justice.
The Amateur Ending Explained: Does Charlie Kill Horst?
From the moment his wife dies, Charlie is out for revenge against her killers. He blackmails his boss, Chief Moore, and his associate Caleb to allow him to enter a mission training program from Henderson, a CIA Trainer. He is aware of the ethical corruption prevailing in his organization, especially at the higher ranks and files. Chief Moore, being complicit in the execution of unsanctioned and illegal black ops on foreign territories, reluctantly grants Charlie his wish. The protagonist goes in with the singular objective of killing everyone responsible for his wife’s murder. During the training, he exhibits fear and nervousness, leading Henderson to believe that Charlie can never be a killer. When Charlie gets the opportunity onboard Horst Schiller’s Ship to finally get revenge, he finds himself in a situation that demands he make a tough choice.
Horst Schiller doesn’t kill Charlie, despite the means to easily do so. Instead, he tries to know Charlie’s truth and character. He exhibits shock when he learns that Charlie has been a lone wolf throughout the mission. Horst admits to Sarah’s killing and even offers an apology. In a shocking twist, he gives his loaded gun to Charlie and asks him to make the choice. He wants to see if Charlie can actually kill someone point-blank. At this moment of reckoning, the protagonist chooses not to take Horst’s life. His moral compass doesn’t allow him to do so. He realizes that the cost of taking a life is too heavy on the soul, especially when there is a choice and no ambiguity in the act of murder. To save his soul from the unbearable cost, he doesn’t fire the gun.
In a cryptic puzzle gifted by Sarah before her death, she leaves him a note that says, “So you don’t get lost in the clouds.” It is a poignant reminder of his true self, which changes the idea of revenge in his mind. Instead of killing Horst, Charlie reveals that he has hacked the Ship’s navigation system, steering it into Finnish Waters, a territory away from International Waters where it’s possible to arrest Horst. On a higher level, Charlie also realizes the importance of someone like Horst being in custody, as he can expose corrupt officers like Chief Moore, who have worked with non-state actors to carry out unsanctioned missions.
As the Ship enters Finnish Waters, Horst is taken into custody by Finnish police in collusion with Interpol. Though Charlie gets revenge, he does it in a way he didn’t intend to at first. After achieving a cathartic sense of redemption, he returns home, still serving the agency. Choosing to honor his wife’s memory, he fixes the broken Cessna aircraft and flies it, possibly toward a brighter future.
Who Does Charlie Target For His Wife’s Murder?
Taking matters into his own hands after Sarah’s tragic death, Charlie uses his computer brilliance to access CCTV footage from London and narrows down on the identity of his wife’s killer, along with the three other assailants. He learns the names of all the perpetrators. After receiving training from Henderson, another CIA officer, Charlie, begins his risky revenge mission. He first targets Gretchen Frank, a disgraced foreign intelligence operative. He finds her apartment and plans to shoot her when he gets a chance. However, he is unable to do so as his nerves and morality get the better of him.
After learning more about her daily life and medical condition by tracking her movements in Paris, he hijacks a treatment session of hers in a local clinic, uses certain flowers to cause her a massive pollen allergy inside a glass chamber, and demands to know the location of Horst Schiller, the man who pulled the trigger on Sarah. He promises to let her go if she gives him the information he needs; he is unable to let her die and opens the door of the glass chamber, but in pursuit of an escape, Gretchen is killed by a speeding van on the street next to the clinic. Following clues on her phone, Charlie goes to Marseilles; however, he is apprehended by Henderson, who has been sent after Charlie by Moore. Henderson shows interest in killing Charlie, but Charlie escapes using an IED.
He then asks for help from an anonymous source called Inquiline to travel to Istanbul on a cargo plane. Before Sarah’s death, Inquiline had sent him secret documents that proved Chief Moore’s involvement in illegal and unsanctioned operations on foreign soil. After meeting the woman, she helps him track down the remaining assailants. He targets Mishka Blazhic next in Madrid, Spain. Charlie observes Mishka’s habit of going for a swim in a glass pool attached to the higher floors of the Aguilar Hotel, where the assailant is staying. By using a device to produce pressurized water, Charlie kills Mishka by causing the structural integrity of the glass pool to break, causing Mishka to fall from a dangerous height. Henderson is still in pursuit of Charlie, but Charlie manages to escape.
Meanwhile, Caleb tracks down Inquiline and Charlie. During an ambush, Inquiline is killed, but Charlie manages to escape yet again. Following this, the protagonist uses Inquiline’s phone to set up a meeting with Lawrence Ellish, his next target, by pretending to sell missiles. He leads Ellish to a remote location and tricks her into opening a box containing an IED activated by movement. He demands to know the location of Horst, which Lawrence provides him. Charlie tells him to try to survive the explosion, but the perpetrator is unable to do so and meets his end.
What Happens to Chief Moore and Caleb?
At work in the CIA, Charlie gets coded clues and intel from an anonymous source called Inquiline. He decides that his boss, Chief Moore, has sanctioned illegal drone strikes in foreign territory, which the mainstream media falsely reports as suicide bombing. It is proven by Horst that Moore and others like him are involved in this ugly game of illegal missions intended to cause political chaos and destabilization of peace across the world. The intel serves as an essential part of Charlie’s actions towards the end. After the Finnish Police take Horst into custody, Charlie returns home.
What follows is a press conference addressed by CIA Director O’Brien in which she announces that senior members of the CIA have been guilty of breaching the morals and laws of the agency. It is then revealed that the FBI has arrested both Moore and Caleb following an act of whistleblowing by the protagonist. Charlie uses the Intel received from Inquiline to publicly expose the wrongdoings of his superiors. Moore and Caleb will presumably receive suitable prison terms for their overreach and blatant misuse of power. By doing so, Charlie not only manages to get revenge at a personal level but also saves the integrity of his agency from being compromised by individuals with vested interests.
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