It all sounded so promising.

George Clooney as a world-weary hitman, looking for a way out, who holes himself up in a sleepy Italian village, only to find he cannot escape his past as a troupe of fellow assassins come calling.

Sounds great right?

That is what I thought, but the truth of the matter is director Anton Corbijn may have somehow stumbled across the cinematic cure for insomnia with this effort.

The movie is so pedestrian it almost comes to a standstill at times, and as an audience member you are literally begging for something to happen.

The real disappointment is the film starts strongly, with a set-piece in snowy Sweden that is both shocking and well filmed.

But after Clooney elects to go on the run and head to Italy, the whole thing grinds to a halt.

We get shots of George moodily sipping a coffee, shots of George moodily reading a paper, George moodily sat in his car, George moodily looking out over the hills – you get the picture.

The filmmakers obviously thought they were making a grand statement here – but the fact is it plays out like a silent movie at times and is simply boring.

Whether Corbijn realised he was making such a cliche-riddled spectacle is obviously open to conjecture, but just how many times have we seen this 'bad guy looking for a way out' routine before?

The American presents nothing new whatsoever, and the sad fact is you can see pretty much see the exact route the story is going to take before it actually plays out.

Clooney is moody (did I mention that before) and totally lacking charisma in this role – OK you could make a case that as an ice-cold hitman that should be the case, but it makes his romance with a local prostitute (which includes a few graphic sex scenes) totally unrealistic.

Grudging positives should be offered up as far as the cinematography goes, which makes excellent use of the stunning locations, and the fleeting action sequences are nicely filmed.

You can clearly see why Clooney opted for this role – after all, the chance to spend a summer in Italy, and spend a chunk of the film romping in bed, does have its attractions (especially considering his home at Lake Como of course).

It is just a shame that the audience has to suffer the consequences of this obvious, pretentious and oh-so-worthy film.