George Clooney is one of those rare Hollywood stars who can lend his support and considerable box office draw to film projects that without him might not get the backing they deserve. In The American, Clooney both stars as a gun maker for assassins, contracted to carry out one last job, and is credited as executive producer.

After a brief opening sequence in Sweden, The American - based on the novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth (a superb name for an author) - is set in Italy, a country that Clooney now calls home, with a house on the banks of Lake Como.

Clooney is Jack, otherwise known as Edward, who after a previous assignment goes awry, hides away in a picturesque town clinging to a hillside, perfect for chase sequences through cobbled streets and atmospheric rendezvous in the fog.

Jack is an enigmatic character, a loner but in need of human contact, a sinner who forms a close friendship with a local priest.

His motive for doing his job seems to be money, but he has a love and dedication to his craft, creating a gun that is as beautiful in its construction as it is deadly in its job.

His relationship with a shady intermediary and an ice cold female assassin remains unexplained, but this mystique and much of the other mysteries about Jack only helps to add to this most intelligent of thrillers.

His love affair with prostitute Clara (Italian singer , model and actress Violante Placido) is more black and white, but still not entirely so.

The American is a thoughtful thriller with twists and turns like the meanders of the roads Jack drives down. For Anton Corbijn’s second feature after Control, he has shown a deftness of touch in a startlingly different genre. This is a great ride.

The American is playing this week at the Orpheus.