Review of Atomic Blonde (2017) by Chris Z — 02 Aug 2017

Chris' Movie Review.

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Atomic Blonde.

Rating: 4/10 (Sub Par).

Recommendation: Skip It.

So every part of Texas that I went to, was inconvenient for trucks. I couldn't get to the theater at any point. So I apologize for that. Now, on the other hand, I wish I could have just sat this movie out.

Atomic Blonde stars Charlize Theron (Lorraine), James McAvoy (David), Eddie Marsan (Spyglass), Sofia Boutella (Delphine), and Toby Jones (Gray).

Plot Summary.

Lorraine is sent to Berlin, in 1989, to retrieve a list. On it has a bunch of a spies that will expose them and possibly increase the length of the cold war.

She's in a race to grab the list before the Soviets get it.

Review.

Atomic Blonde is a movie that should've been sponsored by cigarette companies because there's smoking...every where. Which, isn't a bad thing, but when the smoking is more intriguing than your plot, you definitely have a problem.

For starters, this film is all about style. Almost every scene is directed to ooze atmosphere. From the camera angles, to the lighting, to the actors smoking, the movie comes off as an art house project more than your typical summer blockbuster. Which, style has its place. You can make a film that sucks you into it's environment but you still need a decent plot/characters to keep you interested.

The plot is confusing, or at least it's really difficult to follow. There are a bunch of spies who want this "List." Some are trustworthy. Some are liars. And some are just flat out unknown. Now this premise works as a "Spy Thriller" but when the plot muddles around with a bunch of various, useless information, you tend to start to turn your brain off and once you do that, you miss "Key" elements. Or so they make you think that you do.

I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure if any of what's said/shown really matters. The ending twist comes out of nowhere and it just doesn't seem to add up. It's possible that I missed something but the twist seems to be thrown in to catch the audience off guard and to make them think they missed something along the way. It more or less feels like a gimmick than anything.

The acting is dull. Charlize and James put effort into their performances but it's just comes off like stale bread. Charlize doesn't provide much other than whispering every other line and James, he's not on screen enough to really do anything with his character. But credit does need to go to Charlize for the action scenes.

Even though the action makes up very little of the movie, what we do get is pretty solid. Charlize does all of the stunts, unless my eyes decieved me, and she pulls them off nicely. So she gets a lot of props for going out and perfecting these parts of the film but it's sad that the film doesn't do her the justice that she deserves and it comes off as more of a waste than anything.

Overall.

Atomic Blonde is a movie that tried to mimic the James Bond formula but it didn't fully grasp what Bond was all about. Bond films are generally a blast from the word "Go." But Atomic Blonde goes with the slow roller approach and it didn't pay off.

The style is beautiful. The action scenes are nicely done. And Charlize put in a lot of time to make the stunts work. But the acting is dull. The plot is hard to follow. And the ending just seems to be there for no reason other than to make you think it's a good film.

It's a shame that this movie didn't pull through. The previews made it look pretty solid but, unfortunately, the trailers outshined the actual film once again.

As usual, thanks for reading!