ATOMIC BLONDE
Director: David Leitch
Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella, Toby Jones
Rating: (R16)
Two and a half stars (out of five)
There’s a scene in the second act, set in the stairwell of a dingy Berlin apartment building, in which Charlize Theron’s titular, cool-as-ice MI6 spy (real name, Lorraine Broughton ...), brutally and methodically takes out a group of KGB roughnecks intent on removing her, and the double agent she’s trying to protect, from the picture.
Ostensibly shot in a single 10-or-so-minute take, although you know there are a few sly cuts, it’s a masterpiece of dizzying fight choreography, gunplay and stunt work that leaves you breathless for more of the same.
Based on a graphic novel, The Coldest City, by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart, it’s now being pitched as the female John Wick, which makes sense as director David Leitch was the uncredited co-director of the first film in that series, and this co-opts the neon-lit visuals and hyperreal tone, yet without the compelling mythology to accompany it.
Set in the week before the fall of the Berlin Wall, it features a terrific soundtrack of ’80s hits, and an outstanding performance by Theron who nearly outdoes her sterling work in Mad Max: Fury Road.
She’s the best action star working in movies today, and gets fine support from character actors John Goodman, Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones. However, it’s ultimately a hollow exercise, with style to spare but no story to care about.
- Jeremy Quinn
