Review of Atomic Blonde (2017) by Jiminyjazz — 22 Aug 2017

Atomic Blonde summarized in one sentence is a film, where you either love it for what it has to offer, like it for certain aspects or hate it for its flaws. I am on the median type of audience for this film, as I enjoyed the film for certain parts such as its John Wick-style action (by the same director of John Wick), its stylistic neon aesthetics (however underutilized it may be or trying to hard to be something it is not), acting and performances, soundtrack and its marketing strategy. However, I found numerous aspects of the film disappointing, poor or unacceptable such as the cliched and boring narrative, the dull and dragged pacing, the amount of inconsistent plot holes and the lack of emphasis on the characters, aesthetics and cinematography. It felt like such a disappointment from the advertisements and trailers shown as the marketing strategy which depicted an intriguing and beautiful MI6 agent who was sent to Berlin to be with another rebellious British agent in the calmer and revolutionary but ironically, the most tense and alert final days of the cold war where the deterrence for ideology was settling and people were shifting toward the seductive side of capitalism filled with revolutionary and dramatic neon, products and perspectives revolutionizing both Russian and American culture. This honestly excited and intrigued me and made me want to find out more. But instead we got a boring film with only good action and music with a dull spy movie plot that I guarantee you have seen a million times before and with (minor spoilers) an extremely inaccurate plot twist that just settled with me and I just moved on with my life. This is such a disappointment and there is probably more aesthetically pleasing imagery in the trailers, wallpapers and fan art alone.

But however there are certain plot irrelevant moments which are unfortunately more intriguing than the story line. There are occasionally (once in a blue moon) shots which reference pop culture classic films, good scenes that give us more story on the character even by saying nothing and sequences with good songs. Overall , if you like pretty good soundtracks, good hand to hand action, good acting and average (albeit brief) neon aesthetics then this film is for you. However if you decide of considering to see it then you must be aware of its flaws before deciding.