Atomic Blonde
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 (3)
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The crown jewel of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) is equal parts spycraft, sensuality and savagery, willing to deploy any of her skills to stay alive on her impossible mission. Sent alone into Berlin to deliver a priceless dossier out of the destabilized city, she partners with embedded station chief David Percival (James McAvoy) to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies. (Focus Features)
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In the first half it is excessively stylized with randomly used "Best of 80´s soundtrack", while the second half is often without any music and is raw to the bone in a style of Greengrass´ Bourne (and this approach suits the movie much better). On top of that, the screenwriter pretends that it is a serious espionage genre movie almost like Carry with somehow tangled double identities. However, he is not very good at it and it is clear from the very beginning what´s going on and who is the mysterious one who is playing everyone. A rather trivial story is told in an unnecessarily complicated manner. But at least it's not a stupid story. What it relies on is, as expected, mainly all an excellent choreography that results in brilliant physical and stunned action (fortunately it´s not non-stop, but reasonably dosed) with the impressively cool Charlize. You can't deny the movie has its own face, it's definitely not just the proclaimed "Jane Wick". Only that face should have had too much makeup throughout the footage as at the beginning or should have been completely without it as at the end.
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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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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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Basically, I completely agree with what Ruprechtos wrote: Leitch knows how to put together and shoot creative action sequences and deliver a decent retro feel, but he can't develop the spy plot in a way that surprises the viewer or piques their curiosity. If it wasn't for the very hot Charlize, it’d be a very big dud with one physically exhausting action scene without editing that stands out as the only really bright element, even if it doesn't quite fit the established style – at least the lesbian scene still stands out. That's damn little from the director of the second Deadpool.
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Even when you have one of the best action sequences (and I'm toying with the idea that it might be the very best) ever filmed, you have to have something else to go with it, and Atomic Blonde fits that bill sufficiently. At least for those who are still unapologetically fulfilled by the aesthetic of a broken body in an expensive dress, with a glass of vodka and a cigarette in the corner of her mouth.
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