Atomic Blonde
Atomic Blonde
Directed by:
David LeitchScreenplay:
Kurt JohnstadCinematography:
Jonathan SelaComposer:
Tyler BatesCast:
Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Sofia Boutella, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Roland Møller, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Attila Árpa (more)VOD (4)
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Oscar-winner Charlize Theron stars as elite MI6’s most lethal assassin and the crown jewel of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, Lorraine Broughton. When she’s sent on a covert mission into Cold War Berlin, she must use all of the spycraft, sensuality and savagery she has to stay alive in the ticking time bomb of a city simmering with revolution anddouble-crossing hives of traitors. Broughton must navigate her way through a deadly game of spies to recover a priceless dossier while fighting ferocious killers along the way in this breakneck action-thriller from director David Leitch. (Universal Pictures UK)
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Action goddess Charlize Theron in a spy action thriller. If I were to compare this film to John Wick, Wick is obviously closer to my heart, Atomic Blonde slightly lacks drive and the plot isn't entertaining and gripping enough to glue the viewer to their seat, yet there are scenes that will make me remember it. Definitely worth mentioning are the fights, of which there are quite a few and all of them are properly gritty and perfectly shot (the highlight being a 10 minute action scene in a building culminating in a car chase that had the whole cinema holding their breath). Also nice, especially for men, is Sofia Boutella, who has a passionate fling with Charlize Theron, seeing two beautiful actresses in bed will please any film fan. All in all, an enjoyable action ride that slightly lacks pace and disappoints with a weaker script, but the action makes it definitely worth seeing. 75%
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Little was missing for me to be absolutely thrilled. I finally got to see a full-fledged action movie again, complete with a cool retro atmosphere of divided Berlin and an even better 80s soundtrack. As usual, I had a problem with the fact that the difference in weight had no effect on the fighting and the incredible stamina of everyone involved, but other than that, I have no major complaints. I had a really good time.
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Anyone expecting a female version of John Wick will be disappointed. Charlize Theron is not a macho good guy seeking revenge for the death of his dog and his burned-down house, she's a cunning and unpredictable bitch, defined by looks and arrogant one-liners rather than emotions. This corresponds to the different concept of the film that David Leitch created. The essence of the story is a modern spy game of cat and mouse, where no one knows who, where, how and with whom until the last moment. But the unnecessarily convoluted screenplay interferes a bit with the otherwise sensational impression of tangible action, which, I dare to say, is hardly rivaled in its class by its intensity and execution. Unlike Wick and his über fucking cool combo of moves and stylish shooting, the action here less rhythmic and more raw and dirty. The fight on the stairs, already teased in the trailer, will surely go down in memory and film history as one of the best ever. All in all, it lasts about ten minutes and there are damn few cuts, all backed up by phenomenal handheld camerawork that doesn't let the main characters breathe a sigh of relief (it's incredible what Charlize Theron physically does as she continues her badass ride after Fury Road). Everything else about the film, from the sexy neon, the 80s music, the stylish sets, the ditzy production design, to the atmospheric Berlin – a filmmaker's paradise of cold backdrops – goes by the wayside and plays second fiddle with a bit of hyperbole. Because that ten minute sequence is itself a film within a film, elevating the action craft in that class to a whole new level, something that was last done a decade ago and a notch below by Paul Greengrass with his jittery and frantic The Bourne Identity.
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Two-star trash with one five-star action scene. For an action/spy movie that is supposed to be action-packed and overflowing with information while constantly arousing our curiosity, Atomic Blonde is unusually lame. The fault lies in the film’s uneven rhythm, which is due to the large number of slowed-down scenes that do nothing to advance or enhance the plot, as the characters carry on shallow dialogue about truth, lies and politics, and shots in which Charlize Theron poses in a hotel room lit with blue and red neon (fans of Refn’s films will get their money’s worth). The female protagonist resembles a nicely dressed mannequin or robot that carries out issued instructions (and in the end, it doesn’t really matter who issues them) and occasionally restores her strength in an ice-water bath or with the aid of a shot of vodka (her version of “Martini, shaken, not stirred” is therefore “Stolichnaya on the rocks”). OK, so she’s a cold-as-ice killing machine, but couldn’t that have been conveyed more subtly? The few indications of her humanity and that she has any individuality at all ring hollow (her relationship with Delphine, the slain lover whose photo she burns at the beginning, probably just so the director could kick of the film with Bowie’s “Putting out the Fire”). The narrative is also slowed down by the unnecessary framing with an interrogation in London, visually reminiscent of the interrogation scene from Basic Instinct (there is no crossing of legs, however), which does not build any suspense, arouse curiosity or raise new questions. Toby Jones and John Goodman merely represent the viewers who are slower to understand and sometimes need a break and a summary of what we’ve heard so far. Furthermore, despite the retrospective narrative in the Berlin scenes, the film does not adhere to Lorraine’s perspective. We are also rather senselessly informed of Percival’s activities, so we know his true intentions before the other characters do and the film thus no longer manages to surprise us in this respect. The film’s best action scene is paradoxically the most stylistically restrained one, which doesn’t try to be cool by using slow motion or ’80s songs that work always and everywhere. Only during a several-minute, multi-level brawl on a staircase does the film finally become, at least for a moment, the uncompromising, brutal, badass action flick that the trailer promised. The quality of the stunts, choreography, camerawork and use of the mise-en-scéne (when things go south, even an electric stove comes in handy) makes Atomic Blonde an above-average bit of filmmaking. It is so much above-average that you probably won’t give much thought to the rawer, less stylised approach to the action (compared to the rest of the film) or the meagre contribution of a given sequence to the narrative. David Leitch thus has some great material if he ever needs to convince anyone that he knows how to direct an excellent action scene, but the whole narrative structure around it is so worn-out, dumb, sloppily put together and unbalanced that I would recommend showing up at the cinema about half an hour before the end of the movie. 50%
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An excess of style sometimes paradoxically results in the absence of style. The film is so saturated with neon EBM fetishism and a fondness of looking at a heroine who is so cold that we can't fully sympathize with her, meaning that it eventually falls apart into a chain of badly connected scenes. A simple story told in a senselessly awkward and ineffective way, and thereby all the pleasure ultimately comes from the little things. And there are about ten minutes of them in the two-hour runtime. I wouldn't even accept that from Dederon.
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