Review of Atomic Blonde (2017) by Eric G — 16 Aug 2017

Atomic Blonde is a brilliantly anarchic refreshing of the usually very formal Bond style spy movie, with it's 1989 setting and an incredible, best of the year soundtrack full of 80's gems, it feels cool and invigorating, seriously what a fucking soundtrack! from new wave and synth to punk, pop and even rap with everyone from the beloved, late pop God George Michael (whose Father Figure is the unlikely score to an awesome fight scene) through to Public Enemy's "Fight The Power", it has one of the more eclectic and varied collection of 80's music in some time.

The films setting, Berlin just as the wall is about to come down, adds a great backdrop to the story too, with the punk, new wave club scene of the city and graffiti sprayed everywhere, it adds such great tension and flavor to the film.

Another thing that pours extra sweet goodness over what would usually be the typical stale espionage antics is the movies fixation on style and mood, unusual for increasingly vanilla looking modern movies, everything is coated with red, pink, blue and green neon, every room filled with smoky atmosphere, the movies comic book origins make themselves very clear with it's attractive, graphic design and stylistic swagger, right down to the clothes, indeed everything Charlize Therons Loraine wears is wonderfully inappropriate for someone who is undercover.

Speaking of Theron, she is fucking glorious, a true, rare screen presence, she fixates your attention directly on her whenever shes on screen, with her eyes, her icy cold, lethal coolness and how utterly fucking badass she is, seriously she owns this film, lady is an action star, in one particularly astonishing fight scene, she completely amazes, said fight scene is shot in one (cheated, but still) single take that goes on for some 10, brutal, bloody minutes and leaves you feeling as exhausted as Theron, it's a truly extraordinary set piece that will leave you awed, in comparison John Wick 2 can go do one frankly.

There's been alot said about the convoluted plot's incomprehensibility and as much as I love this movie, it's hard to disagree, it's a spaghetti tangle of triple crosses, secrets and overly complicated machinations and reveals that sometimes threaten to bog the film down, but there is always something going on and the pace surges the film forward fast enough to not even feel the bumps on the road, besides which plot doesn't matter, this movie is way more about the style, the look, the sound and the feel of it all, just luxuriate in an ice cool, incredible looking film backed by one of the best soundtracks in years, fronted by the most striking, mesmerising and magnetic leading lady in film right now who could hand your ass to you hard .

Enjoy the refreshingly hard r-rated violence, super hot lesbian sex scene, astonishing fight choreography and James McAvoy going full Tyler Durden as dark, charming, cheeky bastard spy Percival. This movie is one of the most unfiltered, pure pleasures in cinemas this year.