Atomic Blonde

This is a bit too po-faced to be as much fun as the John Wick films, and a bit too far-fetched to be a serious spy thriller – but somewhere in between, Atomic Blonde is a bone-crunching, paranoia-fuelled, Cold War era spy flick, where nothing is quite as it first appears.

Premise:  Days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, an MI6 agent is murdered in Berlin and his microfilm list of undercover agents on both sides is stolen.  MI6 dispatch agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) to investigate, with the help of their Berlin station chief David Percival (James McAvoy) – but their efforts are undermined by “Satchel”, the Russian double-agent planted in MI6 who needs to recover the list to preserve their own cover.

Review:

First things first, I think it’s fair to start with what this film isn’t, as managing expectations might be the key to how much you enjoy this film.  Despite being directed by David Leitch, the co-director of the first John Wick film, this is not (as some have said) a female-led version of John Wick.  A key part of the appeal of the John Wick films is that they are very detached from reality, effectively taking part in a fantasy world of super-assassins, secret societies and clandestine networks, where the violence is graphic but also stylised, and even playful.

Atomic Blonde, on the other hand, lacks any of that playfulness or sense of fantasy.  Yes, it is still set in the heightened reality of a spy thriller, but the violence and stakes are much more grounded.  Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is not an indestructible “bogeyman” in the same way John Wick was – and when she’s involved in a fight, there’s a real wince-inducing reality to the injuries involved.  In the movie’s standout action scene, the participants are barely able to stand by the end of their ordeal, which certainly gives the film a very different feel from the almost cartoonish violence in the John Wick films.

“…some of the most impressive action sequences to come out of Hollywood in recent years…”

That said, what Atomic Blonde does have in common with John Wick is that it has some of the most impressive action sequences to come out of Hollywood in recent years.  Charlize Theron has done some great action films before, but never something with the intensity that these hand-to-hand combat scenes have.  Part of what makes the fights scenes so impressive is that it’s clearly Charlize Theron doing the stunts herself for much of it, which allows David Leitch to capture the fights in long takes that really showcase the fighting skills, rather than the quick-cut editing style that’s used to disguise poor fight choreography.

Speaking of the fight choreography, it’s great to see that the action has been tailored to Charlize Theron’s physicality in the way that it has, so that when she’s fighting larger and stronger opponents, she utilises makeshift weapons and her surroundings to even the odds.  This is not a film where the heroine only fights other women – Lorraine Broughton is regularly against men who are far stronger and more physically imposing than her, meaning that the fight choreography has to find creative solutions for her.

“…a 7-minute one-shot action scene unlike anything I’ve seen in recent years…”

As you would expect from David Leitch (a former stuntman, as well as the co-director of the first John Wick film and the director of the upcoming Deadpool 2), the action is not only well-executed, but it’s also impressively staged on a technical level.  The action scenes are shot in long takes with very few cuts – the standout example being a 7-minute one-shot action scene where Lorraine Broughton has to make her way through an enemy occupied building, which is unlike anything I’ve seen in recent years.

As you may have gathered from the above, I think it’s fair to say that the action scenes are the film’s main selling point, and they’re certainly what sets it apart from other spy thrillers.  But it’s also fair to say that this is a “spy thriller” and not a traditional “action film”, meaning that the action sequences are few and far between, and used sparingly to punctuate the twisting plot.  The plot itself (adapted from the graphic novel The Coldest City) is perhaps also more complicated than you might be expecting – on a first viewing, it can sometimes seem overly simplistic and straightforward at times, but certain revelations in the final act mean you eventually realise that nothing was quite as you first believed.  For that reason, this is certainly a film that benefits from a second viewing.

“…an enjoyable blend of action, plot twists, and a wonderful 80s-insprired soundtrack…”

Overall, the film is an enjoyable blend of impressively staged action sequences, paranoia-inducing plot twists, and a wonderful 80s-insprired soundtrack that really gives the film a tangible sense of time and place.  James McAvoy is great as MI6’s main man in Berlin, but the international cast is universally great, including Sofia Boutella, John Goodman and Eddie Marsan.  Whilst this may not be a film to change your life, it’s certainly one that's worth a watch.