Film: Atomic Blonde

GENRE: Action

RATING: R for violence, language, sexuality/nudity
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 55 minutes

STARRING: Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road, Fate of the Furious)

James McAvoy (Wanted, X-Men), John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)

DIRECTOR: David Leitch (stunt guy, upcoming Deadpool 2)

WRITER: Kurt Johnstad (300, 300:Rise of an Empire)

PLOT: A MI6 agent goes to Berlin during the Cold War to retrieve important spy documents.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Expected John Wick type action.

STORY STUFF: Did not care for the story or the characters involved. Setting it just before the Berlin Wall comes down was interesting but not enough to pull me through. And here’s a tip spies, never consolidate all your agents and their identities into one file that can be stolen. Amateur hour.

ACTING STUFF: As I didn’t care about the characters, I found the acting just so-so. You can tell that Theron had trained for a long time to do the action sequences. But the character should be deeper than just some cool action moves.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Other than the action sequences there were two things that stuck out for me, in a good way. The soundtrack was loads of fun. Lots of eighties new wave stuff that fit nicely. It’s been a great summer of soundtracks. The other thing was the art direction of Berlin in the 1980s. Fun neon and other vibrant backgrounds.   

VERDICT: One and a half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You have a crush on Charlize Theron

UPCOMING REVIEWS: 2017 Fall Television Preview