THE ad campaign for George Clooney's new movie, featuring the star clutching a pistol in a sharp black suit, might lead you to think it's a Bond-style action thriller.

Think again.

The American ditches both action and thrills for moody introspection and glacial pacing, rounded off with some pretentious existential posturing.

The Ocean's 11 star plays Jack, a hired gun who heads to a small Italian village after an attempt on his life.

While building a silencer for another assassin, he befriends a local prostitute and a priest who, over the course of 90 interminable minutes, thaw his frosty relationship with humanity.

Directed by photographer Anton Corbijn, who made the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic Control, The American is a stagnant mood piece featuring a plot in which almost nothing happens and a downright ridiculous ending.

Clooney has made good films (Syriana, Up In The Air) and bad films (Leatherheads, The Men Who Stare At Goats) but he's never made a boring film. Until now.