Charlize Theron could give Keanu Reeves a run for his money in the kick-assery department. Atomic Blonde (15) follows Agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) as she travels to Berlin to investigate the murder of a fellow agent, there she teams up with another field-based agent in David Percival (James McAvoy), and together they are on the hunt for a list detailing crucial information.
Let’s start with the action, it was mind blowing! I watched it in IMAX so I felt every punch, kick, throw and brutal stabbing as if I was the one at mercy to a savage Theron beat down. It was very stylishly shot, directed by David Leitch, who was a producer on John Wick 1+2, so it felt very fluid, avoiding quick cuts when possible.
One scene involved Theron covering her face with her turtle neck, then swiftly taking down a few thugs, naturally I thought, perfect time to add in the stunt double, nope it was Theron the whole time, props to her! Fun fact, I read that she trained with Keanu Reeves while he was filming John Wick 2, now that’s a crossover I’d watch!
The soundtrack was excellent, some of the songs you would never have thought would go well with a fist fight or car chase, but boy was I wrong! Watching it in IMAX meant that these songs are now etched into my brain, don’t get me wrong I felt very immersed in what I was watching but I will be humming New Order’s Blue Monday for the next few days that’s for sure.
The acting was all very good. Theron was excellent as the lead, a perfect mix of Bond and John Wick. James McAvoy was brilliant as always, that man can do no wrong at the moment, even if he’s in a terrible movie he usually kills it. Sofia Boutella also gives a good performance as the sexy French spy who gets tangled up in our heroine’s story.
My only negative with the film is that the plot was a bit convoluted, I felt like they tried to do too much, which got a tad confusing at times. There was too much to follow and the pace slowed way down halfway through, I found myself feeling a bit bored and hoping Theron would kick the crap out of the next person she saw just to make it more interesting.
Overall, the acting was solid, with a fantastic soundtrack, the plot was too complicated at times but they made up for that with outstanding fight choreography. The one-shot hallway scene, in particular, goes down in my books as one of the best fight scenes I’ve seen in a long time.
My rating: 7/10
