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"American Assassin" presents the origin story of Mitch Rapp, a CIA counter-terrorism agent. Full disclosure: the film is based on one volume in a large series, and I have not read any of the Mitch Rapp books. That may have led to a certain level of disconnect that I felt from the main character and his goals while watching the film.

The opening sequence introduces Rapp (Dylan O'Brien, "The Maze Runner") as he witnesses the death of his new fiancée at the hands of terrorists, and is left for dead himself. We then skip ahead 18 months and he is somehow fully healed and more buff, fluent in Arabic with a professorial-level knowledge of the Quran, a skilled MMA fighter with proficiency with a variety of firearms, and has earned himself an invitation to meet the leader of the very terrorist cell that upended his life a year and a half earlier.

Rapp's behavior draws the attention of CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan, "Now You See Me 2") who inserts him into training for a clandestine unit led by old-school hardass Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton, "Birdman"). The Deputy Director finds her schedule clear enough that she can watch all of Rapp's drills live from Langley. She decides to put him into Hurley's next live operation - despite the fact that he has shown a level of aggression that makes his alpha male training group question his mental state, and a penchant for disobeying orders that would make him unfit to walk a security beat at your local mall.

The team heads to Istanbul, where they encounter main villain Ghost (Taylor Kitsch, "Lone Survivor") as he is purchasing a trigger for a nuclear device. It turns out Ghost has a history with the team: he was Hurley's protégé but was left for dead after disobeying a direct order during a previous mission. Rapp - who's Hurley's new protégé, and just as cavalier about direct orders - pursues the seller, things inevitably go wrong, and Hurley gets captured by Ghost.

This sets up a rescue sequence and also gives Keaton the opportunity to take a tremendous turn during a torture scene where he is slightly unhinged, denying Ghost any information while stalling for more time. Spoiler: as there are 15 other books in this franchise, you might be able to guess who comes out on top in the final fight scene.

Despite the plot holes, "American Assassin" does visually tick the boxes. It is gritty, with dark settings, but not overdone. Unlike the Bourne movies where the handheld camera action can be jarring enough to take you out of the moment, here the transitions, camerawork, and settings lend a certain air of realism. That, combined with Rapp's character being more of an everyman than Bourne - he gets beat up multiple times, is discovered by Ghost relatively easily, and has trouble letting go of his inner rage - makes for a more believable lead than a lot of the "invincible against any odds" characters thrown out by many action films these days. It's not hard to imagine one bad decision leading to his death or capture, a la the ten years older version of him, Ghost.

One interesting aspect of "American Assassin" is that the four leads all seem to be different versions of the same character. It may be because time is not taken to delve into any of their backgrounds; but they are all prickly characters that are arrogant, aggressive, decisive, and only have need for rules/orders when it suits them. It's fun to think about the only difference between any of them being due to the wing flap of one cosmic butterfly.

You don't need to run down to the theater immediately to see this movie, but if you find yourself there it is worth a watch, especially if you treat it as a mirage and let "American Assassin" wash over you, admiring it from a distance without inspecting the story too closely. I do find myself interested enough to go out and read the book, and I am hoping that it will answer a few of the questions I am left with.