- Joined
- Jun 3, 2009
- Messages
- 85,035
- Reaction score
- 18,219
Update: July 26, 2017
Dragonlord's Review of ATOMIC BLONDE (No Spoiler)
Bottom Line: Atomic Blonde's impressive, brutal fight choreography is the only thing keeping this frigid Cold War spy thriller from fizzling out.
Angelina Jolie was the undoubtedly the queen of action movies back in the 2000s. Nipping at Jolie's crown for the better part of the past decade, Charlize Theron takes up the abandoned mantle with recent action/adventure flicks as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fate of the Furious, The Huntsman: Winter's War and now, Atomic Blonde.
Based on Anthony Johnston's graphic novel The Coldest City, Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a top-level spy for MI6 sent to Germany on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall to retrieve a coveted master list and to uncover the identity of the double agent called Satchel.
Veteran stunt master and one half of the John Wick architects, Atomic Blonde director David Leitch continues his dominance in the action world with staging several gratifying, bone-crunching fight scenes including a spectacularly brutal extended "one-take" shot during the film's climax in an apartment building's stairwell. Leitch downplays the gun-fu aspect in which he is famously known for and focuses more on the hand-to-hand combat facet of the spectrum.
Lorraine Broughton (Theron's character) is unquestionably a bad-ass heroine with the actress admirably doing roughly 98% of her own stunts. More Jane Wick than John le Carre, Lorraine dispatches her opponents with steely resolve and resourcefulness, using everything from car keys, an ice pick, a garden hose, or a stiletto to get the job done. Props also to the film's dose of realism as Lorraine is not untouchable as we see her get punched, bruised and even gas out in the middle of a fight.
Unfortunately there's a disconnection side to Theron's performance as Lorraine seemed so robotic, so detached and her lines so carefully calculated and aloof that it's hard to form a rapport with her character resulting in a film with great action but zero emotional stakes.
Lacking the sophistication, suspense building and spycraft mastery of a John le Carre production, Atomic Blonde's skillful action scenes are not enough to overcome its muddled narrative. Adding to its murkiness is David Percival (jubilantly played by James McAvoy), a British spy that has gone "native" in Berlin. They already showed their cards too early by revealing Percival can't be trusted but the film and Lorraine inexplicably still continue to play along up to the not-so-surprising bitter end.
The film is narrated by Lorraine through flashbacks while giving a debriefing, which is a format I'm not too fond of because it automatically ruins half of the tension since you already know the protagonist is alive in the future. But at the same time, I suspected from the start they orchestrated it that way to set up a twist in the end. They're also going with the flashback-debriefing route to assist the audience make sense of the confusing narrative.
For the pervy readers, yes there are glimpses of nudity from Theron and she has a steamy sex scene with Sofia Boutella playing a French operative who makes the stupidest action in the film (see spoiler box below).
Continuing the visual style he displayed with John Wick, Leitch likes to play with saturated neon colors that accentuates the decadent side of Berlin. A slew of 80s New Wave and Techno-Pop songs blare through each scene to mostly positive results ("99 Luftballoons" was too painfully obvious though).
Theron sports a brunette hairdo in the end and she looks absolutely stunning, thousand times better than her character's normal platinum blonde look. It's also the first time Lorraine has shown her true persona with genuine emotions and if they hope to do more sequels, that is the character I am interested in investing in.
Rating: 6.5/10
Click link for previous thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/3488329/
Dragonlord's Review of ATOMIC BLONDE (No Spoiler)
Bottom Line: Atomic Blonde's impressive, brutal fight choreography is the only thing keeping this frigid Cold War spy thriller from fizzling out.
Angelina Jolie was the undoubtedly the queen of action movies back in the 2000s. Nipping at Jolie's crown for the better part of the past decade, Charlize Theron takes up the abandoned mantle with recent action/adventure flicks as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fate of the Furious, The Huntsman: Winter's War and now, Atomic Blonde.
Based on Anthony Johnston's graphic novel The Coldest City, Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a top-level spy for MI6 sent to Germany on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall to retrieve a coveted master list and to uncover the identity of the double agent called Satchel.
Veteran stunt master and one half of the John Wick architects, Atomic Blonde director David Leitch continues his dominance in the action world with staging several gratifying, bone-crunching fight scenes including a spectacularly brutal extended "one-take" shot during the film's climax in an apartment building's stairwell. Leitch downplays the gun-fu aspect in which he is famously known for and focuses more on the hand-to-hand combat facet of the spectrum.
Lorraine Broughton (Theron's character) is unquestionably a bad-ass heroine with the actress admirably doing roughly 98% of her own stunts. More Jane Wick than John le Carre, Lorraine dispatches her opponents with steely resolve and resourcefulness, using everything from car keys, an ice pick, a garden hose, or a stiletto to get the job done. Props also to the film's dose of realism as Lorraine is not untouchable as we see her get punched, bruised and even gas out in the middle of a fight.
Unfortunately there's a disconnection side to Theron's performance as Lorraine seemed so robotic, so detached and her lines so carefully calculated and aloof that it's hard to form a rapport with her character resulting in a film with great action but zero emotional stakes.
Lacking the sophistication, suspense building and spycraft mastery of a John le Carre production, Atomic Blonde's skillful action scenes are not enough to overcome its muddled narrative. Adding to its murkiness is David Percival (jubilantly played by James McAvoy), a British spy that has gone "native" in Berlin. They already showed their cards too early by revealing Percival can't be trusted but the film and Lorraine inexplicably still continue to play along up to the not-so-surprising bitter end.
The film is narrated by Lorraine through flashbacks while giving a debriefing, which is a format I'm not too fond of because it automatically ruins half of the tension since you already know the protagonist is alive in the future. But at the same time, I suspected from the start they orchestrated it that way to set up a twist in the end. They're also going with the flashback-debriefing route to assist the audience make sense of the confusing narrative.
For the pervy readers, yes there are glimpses of nudity from Theron and she has a steamy sex scene with Sofia Boutella playing a French operative who makes the stupidest action in the film (see spoiler box below).
Continuing the visual style he displayed with John Wick, Leitch likes to play with saturated neon colors that accentuates the decadent side of Berlin. A slew of 80s New Wave and Techno-Pop songs blare through each scene to mostly positive results ("99 Luftballoons" was too painfully obvious though).
Theron sports a brunette hairdo in the end and she looks absolutely stunning, thousand times better than her character's normal platinum blonde look. It's also the first time Lorraine has shown her true persona with genuine emotions and if they hope to do more sequels, that is the character I am interested in investing in.
Rating: 6.5/10
In one the most dumbest actions I've seen from a trained spy, Delphine (Sophia Boutella), who is at her apartment, calls Percival (James McAvoy) on the phone and threatens to expose him as a traitor. She then spends the next hour in her apartment packing up her stuff. To the surprise of no one, Percival shows up and kills her. Granted Delphine was still new at the spy game, there's no excuse for having no common sense.
Click link for previous thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/3488329/
