Review of Atomic Blonde (2017) by Saintdecky — 18 Aug 2017

Atomic Blonde? More like Atomic Bland!!!! hahahaha. Anyways, Atomic Blonde is a slow-moving, borderline boring movie with okay action for the most part (besides the staircase fight) and dull plot.

Characters: The characters aren't too bad: their motives are sort of there, but I don't really feel connected to any of the main characters besides Lorraine, as Theron portrayed her well and I actually felt like she was more of a real person. One problem I have with the movie is that Theron and McAvoy's characters don't really spend enough time together, and the time they do spend together they spend not liking each other. They didn't have chemistry whatsoever, so when the twists and turns at the end rolled out, I didn't feel satisfied.

Acting: As I said, Theron was pretty good, but everyone else was okay. I really like James McAvoy, as he was very good in Split, and he was fine in this I guess. I wasn't too interested in his character throughout, though.

Plot: The story was not particularly interesting to me, and somewhat boring. The worst scenes were the ones in the interrogation room, simply because they seemed neverending and were only there to describe the sometimes confusing plot. It was pretty predictable throughout, and the twists weren't particularly great. Twists like this movie pulled off should have the audience like "woooah!! (blank) was actually (blank) all along! I can't believe it!" but this movie just made me feel like "oh. Cool." The plot is a typical spy thriller movie, and it would have an excuse if it had good action, but it doesn't enough of that either.

Action: Considering the director, David Leitch, was one of the two directors of both John Wick movies, and I consider the first one to be one of the most realistic if not one of the best action movies, this movie didn't quite capture the same action. It's not even that the action was different; the action remains relatively similar to the action in John Wick. Longer takes with little cutting for the most part, realistic gun mechanics and fighting. The action is still a bit similar, but doesn't capture the same feel as it did in John Wick. There also wasn't enough to me. The movie is only 1 hour and 54 minutes, but still didn't have enough to interest me in the story and movie. Don't get me wrong, most of the action was shot and choreographed very well, and is much better than a lot of modern action movies, but I wished there was more of it. I also didn't really feel attached to the characters and plot anyways, taking away from the experience. I didn't even know who I was rooting for in a few scenes. In John Wick, you know his motivations, and you sympathize for him, making you cheer for him when he takes down multiple men. But when a character you don't really know or care for fights, it takes away from some, not all, the experience. Some action movies can pull this off, but this one didn't. But I especially want to talk about the staircase fight scene, which was all one take and was nearly perfect. It was choreographed so well and immersed me into the fighting, something the rest of the action lacked, I felt. It was realistic and violent, and all I really wanted out of this movie: awesome fighting and action, without need of much of a story. John Wick's story is basically some guys killed his dog and destroyed his car that his wife, who died, gave to him. He gets mad and seeks revenge, killing hundreds of men, making for great action. But this movie paid more attention to the plot, with a few action scenes. Of course, just because John Wick didn't have much of a plot and was still good, it doesn't mean this movie had to, but since this movie focused so much on the plot that wasn't interesting, it takes away from the experience. Also, there is one really good scene with umbrellas halfway through before the staircase fight, which also resembled the cool action movie that probably would have been better.

Music: The music is very techno-electronic and loud. I didn't really have a problem with it, except for the scenes where the music is forced in. For example, there are scenes where Theron is just walking down the street, and techno music is blaring. Baby Driver got away with playing music over mundane tasks, but it worked because it was choreographed and the music still went with the tone of the scene and movie, and was played constantly throughout. When the only time this music is played is pretty much when someone is walking or not doing much, it doesn't really fit.

Atomic Blonde was a relatively boring movie with pretty good action, though not too much of it. Also, just because a movie is an action movie, I know that doesn't mean it has to have constant action and no story, but countless times a year, action movies are released, some with good, some with bad action, that have bad or boring stories. This movie, is one of those, with good action. All I'm going to say is, you should probably James McAvoid this movie.