Rami Malek’s unconventional spy thriller The Amateur has found a second life on Prime Video. The 2025 film earned less than $100 million worldwide in cinemas, but its streaming performance has brought renewed attention to Malek’s unusual action-hero role.
Malek became an Oscar-winning star after Bohemian Rhapsody surpassed $900 million worldwide. That success suggested a major film career was ahead, although his subsequent record has been uneven. He appeared as a James Bond villain in the successful No Time to Die and played a nuclear physicist in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Other projects made less of an impact. The ensemble murder mystery Amsterdam, despite its high-profile cast, took just over $30 million worldwide. Malek later starred opposite Russell Crowe in Nuremberg, playing US Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley as he assessed Nazi leaders after the Second World War. That historical drama performed respectably without becoming a mainstream breakout.
The Amateur is a streaming success
More than a year after its theatrical release, The Amateur is receiving a warmer response from home viewers. It is currently the No. 2 film on Prime Video in the United States and has remained in the service’s top 10 for 21 days, as tracked by FlixPatrol.
The figures do not erase the film’s disappointing cinema run, but they show how streaming can give a specialised action movie another opportunity. For more entertainment and gaming updates, browse RETROCADE’s Arcade Blog or catch up through Arcade Videos.
What is The Amateur about?
The film adapts Robert Littell’s 1981 novel. Malek plays Charlie Heller, an exceptionally gifted but withdrawn CIA decoder. His wife, Sarah, played by Rachel Brosnahan, is killed in a terrorist attack in London. When agency leaders decline to investigate, Heller blackmails the CIA into providing the training and resources he needs to pursue those responsible.
Heller is not a seasoned operative. He has no field experience and finds the physical demands of the mission difficult. Instead, he uses his analytical skills to design elaborate methods for locating and defeating his targets.
That premise turns the familiar revenge thriller inside out: the person normally working behind a computer is forced to become the action protagonist. The result is an unconventional route into the genre, built more around planning and intelligence than natural combat ability.
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What comes next for Rami Malek?
Malek’s next project moves away from action. He stars in Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, a musical fantasy set in late-1980s New York that premiered at Cannes earlier in 2026. Malek plays Jimmy George, a performance artist living with AIDS, alongside Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Luther Ford and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Read more about The Man I Love.
The renewed interest in The Amateur may nevertheless strengthen the case for Malek as an action lead. Streaming audiences are now discovering the film’s distinctive version of a spy hero, although it remains unclear whether that response will lead to another action role.
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