Atomic Blonde Review

Atomic Blonde is a nice addition to the action style brought about by the John Wick franchise and the Daredevil series, but it is a terrible spy drama.  Full review, and spoilers, below the cut.



Atomic Blonde, based off the graphic novel The Coldest City by Anthony Johnston and Sam Hart, is a great vehicle for Charlize Theron to prove her worth as an action star, but the film fails to capture the intrigue or mystery of the classic spy films it draws inspiration from.

The debriefing of Theron's Lorraine Broughton by her MI6 boss (Toby Jones) and a CIA chief (John Goodman) is the film's framing device as they trace Broughton's investigation into the murder of another MI6 agent and finding a missing list of all the secret agents from all the allied countries before it falls into Soviet hands during the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It always amazes me that for a profession built on secrecy, it always turns out to be surprisingly easy to collate every spy in existence when someone really puts their mind to it.

For a spy movie that wants to leave you questioning everyone's motives, the film just can't help but telegraph everyone's allegiances from the moment they step on screen.  The only reason that the final twist is a mystery at all is that it makes no sense at all, which, sure, keeps people in the dark, I guess, but only because there is zero reason to believe anything that convoluted is happening.  The moment James McAvoy comes on-screen, it's obvious that he holds no real loyalty to his government, that all he really cares about is maintaining the spy playground that is Cold War Berlin.  The film could have been built around the cat-and-mouse game of Theron and McAvoy's consummate professionals who are ostensibly on the same side but instantly recognize each other as obstacles to overcome but, no.  Sure, the film eventually capitalizes on this dynamic in the third act, but by then we've had a full hour of lingering shots of McAvoy dastardly thinking unknown dastardly thoughts that by the time the film figures out what it's best plot mechanic is, it comes as too little too late.

What the film doesn't screw up, however, are it's action scenes which are as fluid as any of the best action series in recent times.  Director David Leitch, who was the co-director of the first John Wick, brings the same efficient and brutal violence that made his directorial debut such a stand out.  You can tell Leitch has a thing for quasi-surrealist sequences since a fight between Theron and a KGB thug set against a German expressionists movie screen is reminiscent of the Kaleida scored club scene from John Wick.  Much like the John Wick sequence, the intricately crafted violence in such a evocative setting creates a strange intimacy that's almost unheard of in action movies of any kind.  I'm realizing now that the structure  and staging of the fight and it's placement in the film- in the middle of the second act, when the hero's task becomes more complicated- is practically identical to Leitch's other effort, but, when you find something that works as well as that, you might as well keep doing it until it doesn't anymore.

The centerpiece of the movie though, is the final stairwell fight.  Filmed in the single-take style that in the tradition of Oldboy, and both seasons of Daredevil, the sequence is an instant classic and will deservedly be the defining moment of this film's reputation.  The sequence is a masterwork in building to crescendo beats in the action, stepping back, and building back up again that by itself wipes away all of the sluggishness of the spy drama that came before it and acts like a straight shot of adrenaline to the movie's heart.  Cliche as that sentence is, it's really the only way I have to describe the effect; before that sequence started I was squirming in my seat desperately waiting for the movie to do something, anything, that would make anyone move with a sense of urgency.  Once this sequence started, all my attention snapped into focus so I wouldn't miss the flow of the action.

It's too bad that so much of the movie is wasted in meandering plot and set up, because everyone involved does a fantastic job with what they're given.  Theron plays the cold, experienced spy-master to perfection, her stoic facade broken up by emotions that feel like distant memories is never dull to watch, McAvoy gives more depth to the obviously evil turncoat than the character has any right to, and Sofia Boutella gives her naive little French girl just enough of an edge to show that, given time, she will be as ruthless as anyone in this game.  I don't think the film is as good as it could've been because I while Leitch does a good job drawing the broad, mythic characters with a strong sense of ethics, he doesn't do so well realizing the messy and contradictory morality of someone who lies for a living.  There are worse ways to spend two hours than watching Atomic Blonde, and while the plot mechanics are distractingly clunky, the strong performances and phenomenal action sequences make it worth at least one viewing on a day when you have nothing better to do.

Grade: B-