2017 has produced some great opportunities for actresses to shine with such strong, bad-ass female characters. I can name some: Logan, Wonder Woman, Raw (which I thought was good, not great), Beauty and the Beast, Colossal, etc. However, they express themselves in whatever way they want to. But, in the end, it's not about their characters which is great, it is about the story behind them and also revolving around them. And, it comes to my point about this movie in which you are excited about another female character entering into the frame of the spy genre but in the end, I was left disappointed by a confusing, messy narrative that does not serve the main character well.
Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron), a spy for MI6, is brought in by MI6 executive, Eric Gray (Toby Jones) and CIA agent, Emmett Kurzfeld (John Goodman), about her mission in Berlin. She is dispatched to Berlin to retrieve a piece of microfilm that contains every file of every active field agent in the Soviet Union called the List. But, she is sent also to assassinate Satchel, a double agent who sold a lot of intelligence to the Soviets for a long time.
When Lorraine arrives in Berlin, she is ambushed by KGB agents who work for arms dealer and KGB associate, Alexsander Bremoyvich (Roland Møller). Lorraine meets with her main contact, David Percival (James McAvoy) as he rescues her from the car accident. As they fail to find any immediate leads, they go to investigate James Gasciogne's (Sam Hargrave) apartment to find any information about the List, in which Lorraine suspects that Percival could be one of the suspects that could be Satchel.
The action is pure adrenaline and it is fantastic as there is an unedited sequence in a stairwell that is quite fantastic and it is reminiscent of the John Wick movies. And, speaking of those movies, one of the co-directors, David Leitch can photograph those well-choreographed fight scenes with immersive style and detail. However, the fighting sequences are accompanied by 80s rock music set in the end of the Cold War. It becomes repetitive and later, a bit unnecessary and weary just like the bad-ass assassins at the end of any fight in the movie (which is a nice little detail). But, the story is minimalistic and does not reach the emotional core of how people would feel after the Cold War is over. Also, the movie is not that much fun as the movie tends to cross the political dystopia of the Cold War with the fun action and spy material.
Charlize Theron is great as the titular character that evokes the cold icy sheer terror that could annihilate any person's hopes of taking her down. She is effortless of performing the choreography with great energy. It is no question even with Furiosa or the underwhelming villain from the 8th Fast and Furious movie that she is one of the best actresses in the action realm right now. James McAvoy is great as her co-worker and contact as he displays some nice quirky dialogue and maintains a persona of unpredictability that is similar to his tour-de-force performance in Split. Sofia Boutella is underutilized as the French spy who is basically a one-note sex object that helps Theron's character out. Goodman and Jones are fine in their roles doing what they do best.
This is a movie in which you can watch the movie's action scenes on YouTube and hope for a better movie with this material, maybe a sequel to Atomic Blonde, if it makes the right amount of money. Plus, Leitch and Kurt Johnstad, the screenwriter, dropped the ball on the narrative in the beginning as the movie throws away the suspense and fun because you are watching a flashback the entire time and a less fun spy action movie than both John Wick movies. Plus, in the third act, there is one too many twists that it becomes manipulative for its own good. It is a shame that there are great moments of action and two sublime performances, but a choppy, slow narrative that will leave you let down with an underwhelming spy thriller.
**
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