Starring
Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Eddie Marsan, Sofia
Boutella, Toby Jones, James Faulkner, Bill Skarsgard, Til Schweiger.
Directed by David Leitch. (2017, 115 min).
There
are some movies where a single scene not only makes the whole thing
worth the price of admission, but ultimately elevates it to classic
status. Psycho immediately comes-to-mind. It's an undisputed
masterpiece, of course, but it's obviously the infamous shower
scene that has rendered it legendary.
Atomic
Blonde may not be a masterpiece and probably not a classic
we'll be talking about 50 years from now - or even 10 - but it's
another movie with one scene so jaw-droppingly awesome
that we just go...wow.
The
plot itself is as generic as they come: Near the end of the Cold War,
everybody's after a list containing the identities and activities of
spies, stolen by a rogue KGB agent who plans on selling it to the
highest bidder. Britain's horse in this race is MI6 agent Lorraine
Broughton (Charlize Theron), who forms an uneasy alliance with David
Percival (James McAvoy). They must also try to smuggle a defector - who
has memorized the list as a bargaining tool - to West Berlin.
 |
| "Eeew! Spider!" |
The
usual complications ensue along the way...double-crosses, story
twists, characters who aren't quite what they seem and, of course, a
love interest (Sofia Boutella). None of it is too surprising, but
Atomic Blonde isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. This is one
of those movies where style matters more than substance, and as such,
it's terrific entertainment. The film is fast-paced and visually
impressive, with kinetic gunplay, an unusually-shot car chase and some
phenomenal close-quarters fighting.
Which
brings us to the 'wow' moment: About half-way in, Broughton has to
fight her way out of an old apartment building with her defector
in-tow. In a single, unbroken, 10 minute sequence, she takes on
several henchmen in a violent, bloody ballet of knives, fists and
guns. It's a brilliantly choreographed and exhausting scene that
ranks as one of the most impressive action set-pieces I've ever seen.
It must have been a logistical nightmare to pull off (and one of the
featurettes shows how).
 |
| Extreme Cutthroat Kitchen. |
Elsewhere,
Atomic Blonde is bolstered by flashy production design, a
booming soundtrack of industrial-tinged music from the era and, of
course, another dedicated physical performance by Theron. She's cool,
beautiful and intimidating, though not the invulnerable, one-woman
wrecking crew that has drawn some comparisons to John Wick.
David Leitch may have directed both films, but the overall tone of
this one is a bit lighter and Broughton is cut from a different cloth. She's
not driven by revenge, and as the stakes get higher, we do get
fleeting glimpses of kinks in her armor. Despite her cool demeanor
and formidable fighting skills, she isn't indestructible, often
taking as much damage as she inflicts.
Stylish
to a fault, there isn't a lot of depth, but Atomic Blonde
delivers lot of sexy, ultra-violent fun. Theron once again proves
she's a formidable action star with another character, like Furiosa
from Mad Max: Fury Road, we wouldn't mind seeing again in the
future. And if nothing else, the apartment fight alone is
a keeper.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES:
"Welcome to Berlin"; "Blondes Have More Gun";
"Spymaster"; "Anatomy of a Fight Scene" (this is
the best of the bonus features); "Story in Motion".
AUDIO
COMMENTARY with director David Leitch & editor Elisabet
Ronaldsdottir.
DELETED/EXTENDED
SCENES
DVD
& DIGITAL COPIES
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
No comments:
Post a Comment