Review of Atomic Blonde (2017) by Ittiaces — 13 Aug 2017

In spite of a strong cast and an established narrative this endeavour by director David Leitch just seemed to fall flat. I was very much looking forward to a female driven action movie with Theron in the staring role. Going by the trailer it seemed to have all the elements of something incredibly memorable.

I was bored during a large section of this film which is a real shame. It’s not fast paced and could have done with a few more action scenes. Theron has great physicality and I wanted to see more of that. James McAvoy looked a bit too pretty for his somewhat gritty role and, for me, made the character less intimidating than he should have been. Theron, although an excellent actress, played a very one dimensional character which didn’t encourage any real emotional investment from the audience. There are positives, the sets are great and I very much liked the neon stylised look that captured a fun but exaggerated setting for 80s Berlin. The retro soundtrack was enjoyable and definitely added to the overall ambience. The film stands outside the usual hollywood formula for action movies which I admired and Theron was not portrayed as a superhero but rather a skilled individual with real vulnerability. Overall, it’s not amazing but worth a look if you’re up for something different.