Atomic Blonde (2017) Review!!

Synopsis – An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.

My Take – I think we all can agree that a spy film with an intriguing plot & a crafty hand to guide the film’s proceedings can do wonders for its genre. While we have seen our fair share of spies over the years, our last weekend’s release comes with a promise to offer something new in the form of a gorgeous, seductive, and sexy Charlize Theron, and as evident from the trailers, it seems she has the required sets of skills to get the job done. Another reason to be excited for this film was due to the involvement of director David Leitch, the one half of the duo who directed the incredible John Wick, back in 2014. Director David Leitch has taken the rare Hollywood career path of stuntman-to-director, his expertise in fight scenes is beyond reproach as evidenced by his work on the Keanu Reeves starrer, and in his helming, this heavily promoted, style over substance summer action film masquerading as a spy thriller, he delivers in that respect, as the film portrays some of the most brutal, bone-crunching and violent fight scenes ever seen on screen. What makes it even more impressive is how you can see that Theron is involved in a decent amount of the stunt work and it makes the film better to see her in this more than most A-list actors/actresses. However, I don’t agree with an early review which described Theron‘s character in the film as “bigger and bolder than Bourne“. Mainly, as the biggest problem with film lies in its story and plot progression. Where the original Bourne Trilogy was much more streamlined, here everything interesting and fun is letdown by a narrative that is crammed with predictable twists and turns. It’s almost impossible to keep up with the plot and when the film was almost over, I was still having trouble discerning who was working for who and who had come out ahead. The central core of the story (retrieving a list of active agents) has been done many times before but that didn’t bother me & there aren’t many truly original spy plots out there and this film isn’t the first one to borrow that conceit, yet keeping in mind the talent involved I have to say I am disappointed.

Based on writers Antony Johnston and Sam Hart’s graphic novel “The Coldest City” and set against the historical backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the fall of 1989, the story follows Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron), a skilled and lethal secret agent working for the U.K.’s MI6. Cut, bruised and battered, she sits in an interrogation room at MI6 headquarters being debriefed by her boss (Toby Jones) and his American CIA counterpart (John Goodman). Always calm and collected, while often also being dismissive, secretive and mysterious, Broughton tells the two men (and those standing behind the two-way glass) what happened on her recent mission to Berlin. MI6 sent her to a city about to undergo a political sea change to retrieve the body of murdered Agent Gasciogne (Sam Hargrove), her lover/colleague & a stolen dossier with a list of double agents, a list especially valuable in light of the ongoing transformation of eastern Europe. As important and dangerous as this assignment was to begin with, it became more so (on both counts) but didn’t quite go according to plan. Broughton was ordered to work with MI6’s Berlin station chief, David Percival (James McAvoy). Percival is eccentric and just as mysterious as Broughton, leading her to believe that he might actually be working against her. After being (temporarily) captured by some bad guys, the first order of business seems to be finding a contact known as Spyglass (Eddie Marsan), who has gotten a hold of The List and is willing to exchange it for safe passage out of East Berlin for him and his family, and maybe a few other perks thrown in for good measure. Of course, just finding Spyglass turns out not to be enough to get this List, as a double agent crossing the KGB, the Royal Crown and the CIA codenamed Satchel, has been throwing everything against to her, until she is left with no option but to enlist the help of the sultry French secret agent Delphine Lasalle (Sofia Boutella) & work out a way to get out of the situation alive. The film starts out strong with as the protagonist heads into Berlin just as the wall is starting to come down. It’s visually beautiful contrasting harsh, stark, nearly monochrome scenes in East Berlin with rich, jewel, neon accented venues in West Berlin. With the recurring backdrop of President Reagan exhorting Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down that wall”, the film in no way employs the clever clandestine strategies of the TV series The Americans, or even slightly resembles international espionage classic like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Instead, whatever plot lines or MacGuffins exist have one sole purpose: generate another fight scene for Lorraine. Most of the story is told in flashback by Broughton to her handlers, post-operation. Halfway through the film it becomes apparent that everyone’s lying – she’s lying, the handlers are lying, the characters in Broughton’s story are lying and the question remains is about what and why.

It at times feels perfunctory and needlessly confusing especially when you consider the film has a set time-clock in the form of November 9, 1989 – the date the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. What’s the point in wrapping your head around names like “Spyglass” and “Satchel” when none of it will matter a month from the film’s events? While I feel the director was going for sexy, sleek and mysterious, many key details were lost in translation. Rather than building on the characters and focusing more on delving into the story, like how Spyglass fits into the plot, the director shoves one gory fight scene after another down our throats. While the film is supposed to be somewhat of a period piece with taking place during the Cold War, it adopts the flaws of a handful of 80s and 90s action films in the worst ways possible. It is dull and tries to make sense of itself. Instead of embracing what could be a fun corny romp, the film tries being as realistic as possible despite never really challenging the characters. We never feel like they’re in real danger. We never feel like there is anything at stake outside of a mysterious dossier and it translates to a pretty flat film. Director Leitch abandons what made John Wick so fun and it quickly turns to a drab and dull experience just after the opening sequence. The film also seems to have a bit of a pacing problem. For example, the film takes time to get going (despite never feeling tedious,) which is fine until one realizes that the last act of the film is almost shockingly overstuffed. After the well-shot stairway action scene, viewers have plot twist after plot twist thrown at them almost relentlessly for the last twenty or so minutes of the film. This is a bit of a problem because these plot ‘twists’ start feeling quite rushed. Additionally, the plot as a whole is rather predictable, and character development could have been improved. A more intricate and full-bodied story tied to the international espionage of the Cold War could have elevated the film to a more elite status; however, it immediately becomes one of the top female-led action films and features some of the most impressive and fun to watch cinematic fight scenes ever since The Raid (2011). The action and fight sequences are top notch exciting and gritty. If you have seen John Wick, you may know how it will be. Leitch is known for impressive stunt work and it doesn’t change here. You just get to thinking: had he as a director dedicated the same high standard to the story that he did for the stunts, we’d probably have a better film. Some scenes may leave you cringing as a character gets keys stabbed into their face. One awesome impressive scene was when she was in a building trying to protect Spyglass and several guys are trying to fight her. The scene was well orchestrated in one single take with the camera for like 8 minutes. Which was impressive to see and I am curious to see the behind the scenes on how that was planned out. Even when she escapes in a car, and the camera is set in the backseat as we see what she sees in the car chase. The cast is as expected quite exceptional. This is undoubtedly Charlize Theron‘s show! She plays the wise and sly role well, bringing a dynamic character who has great chemistry with her fellow cast, crafting a deadly board to run their games on. Theron may be monotone in much of her roles, and often may play the same types of roles, but it works in this setting quite well. Fresh of the success of Split, James McAvoy seems to be having a blast here. In supporting roles, John Goodman, Sofia Boutella, Toby Jones, Til Schweiger, Bill Skarsgard, Eddie Marsan and James Faulkner are good. On the whole, ‘Atomic Blonde’ is brilliantly styled film with some great action sequences, let down by a bland & an unnecessarily convoluted plot.