American Assassin

This adaptation of the 2010 novel by Vince Flynn, directed by Michael Cuesta, is a gory revenge fantasy that opens with a bang and proceeds at a breakneck pace, unleashing a veritable tsunami of bullets, bodies and blood as it goes. When his fiancee (Charlotte Vega) is gunned down by terrorists, a young man (Dylan O'Brien) seeks to avenge her death by transforming into a lean, mean, fighting machine. Recruited by a CIA official (Sanaa Lathan), he becomes part of a black-ops program run by a grizzled veteran (Michael Keaton). With the aid of a Turkish agent (Shiva Negar), mentor and protégé seek to infiltrate a terrorist cell determined to wage nuclear war (Taylor Kitsch plays its mysterious leader). A strong stomach and extreme patience are required until the film finally comes to its senses and good triumphs over evil.

Watch out for: A vigilante theme, constant bloody violence, including torture and gunplay, brief upper female nudity, several uses of profanity and pervasive rough and much crude language.

Rated: L, limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling; MPAA: R