A Most Wanted Man (Anton Corbijn, 2014)

7/10
My reaction to A Most Wanted Man reminds me of my reaction to Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy, which is that I enjoyed it well enough while it was on screen but it never sparked anything in me beyond that. The movies are similar in that they're both a little knotty and dry (although AMWM is missing the whodunnit aspect in its story) but well-made and very well-acted. Philip Seymour Hoffman is his usual casually great self, making it feel like even more of a shame that this is his last leading role. Willem Dafoe is very good too. Rachel McAdams is okay although her accent is a little wonky at times. As for the director, Anton Corbijn, I hope he finds more to do with himself beyond functional espionage adaptations (his last one was The American) because I feel like he has a lot of talent, and it's being a little wasted in these more by-the-numbers movies.

The American (Anton Corbijn, 2010)

6/10
Been wanting to see this one for a while. Hollywood goes Slow? I'm in. Well, director Anton Corbijn has a good eye for visuals, impressively filming beautiful landscapes in Sweden and Italy, but as a director, his style seems lacking. Witness Nicolas Winding Refn doing a similar thing much better a few years later with Drive. Heck, even Jim Jarmusch did it better a year earlier with The Limits of Control. Also, both those movies had fantastic soundtracks, something which I thought really let down The American (strange, given Corbijn's history as a music video director and his previous feature on Joy Division).
Finally, I just didn't buy George Clooney in the role of a cold-blooded killer, no matter how hard he set his jaw. With his cocktail party looks and dark brown sweaters, it was a poor fit from day one, though I can see why he would want to try the role.
So it didn't really come together for me, but I can see what Corbijn was aiming for. I think it was an interesting effort if not a success.