Atomic Blonde Is Great, it’s Just Not Quite Excellent
A bit of a sleeper in August 2017, Atomic Blonde was directed by David Leitch, uncredited co-director of John Wick and director of the upcoming Deadpool sequel. Spoilers included below.
After seeing the trailer, I was itching to go out and see it. For days I was planning to go, but in the end I never got the opportunity to visit a cinema to watch it. However, I recently acquired it on Blu Ray and so I sat down for a home viewing. A lot of people appear to appreciate the film, but have issue how it does not commit to one genre. After viewing it, I completely agree. It varies between an unforgiving action flick, and a sophisticated spy thriller. Both elements it conveys for both of the genres work well, but because of its non-commitment, it throws you between excitement and deep thinking constantly. I still enjoyed the film a lot, though this problem may be a big issue for some people. The particular issue may be caused by the inexperience of the director, though seeing the other skills he has displayed in this film and other projects, I doubt it’ll be a problem in the future and it will most likely sort itself out naturally.
The story starts with a small scene, just before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, of an MI6 agent being killed by a KGB agent. Although this scene is a little unnecessary, it provides a line of dialogue that gets repeated later in the film. For reference, I’m a huge fan of repeated lines. The KGB agent steals a reel of microfilm which contains a list of all agents on both sides. We quickly go to ten days later where our lead, Lorraine Broughton played by Charlize Theron, is being interviewed by an MI6 executive and a CIA agent, played by Toby Jones and John Goodman respectively. The film jumps back and forth between Lorraine on her mission in East and West Berlin and her back in London being interviewed. This is done well, opening and closing questions through dialogue while back in London. It’s filmed in a way where you are rooting for Lorraine during her interrogation. The unknown Satchel, a KGB double agent, has been causing trouble for MI6 for a while. As the story goes on, it gets heavily hinted that James McAvoy’s character, David Percival, is the double agent. Though I feel they force it on too much to the point where I was pretty certain halfway through the flick that he definitely wasn’t Satchel, and was more of a third-party character who loved the life of an agent. The plot continues on a little slow, more like the sophisticated spy thriller I mentioned earlier, with drops of action here and there. Eventually it speeds up and gains some momentum, with multiple characters trying to save themselves and whoever they’re working for. The film manages to create a sense of mystery about who is working for who and builds up the suspense right till the end. The last part of the film revolves around Percival stealing the list of agents, not telling anyone he has it, and everyone else trying to either secure or kill a Stasi officer nicknamed Spyglass, played by Eddie Marsan. Although I won’t give away the main twist of the film, the ending pays off well. The only downfall being that it drags on for just a few minutes too long. The story is well constructed, but it needed to figure out what kind of film it actually wanted to be.
Charlize Theron plays a great protagonist. Although given a name, she acts like an unnamed, silent protagonist would from films like Drive and it works incredibly since she’s meant to be a cold, unforgiving spy. Charlize Theron brings the badass Scarlett Johansson role to the film and does it far better. Seeing her in roles like this and her character in Mad Max: Fury Road is going to send me searching back through her filmography for a few films to watch. James McAvoy provides his usual excellence and English accent. Although I said earlier that it was obvious that he wasn’t Satchel even though the film did a good job to push it, none of that is the fault of McAvoy. He, like most of the other actors, provides a skillful performance for a type of character I would like to see more in modern film. The character who enjoys himself and is sure who he is and what he wants to do with his life. I felt the french agent Delphine Lasalle, played by Sofia Boutella, was extremely lacklustre. She floats in and out of the story, not doing too much. She becomes a love interest for Lorraine, but they don’t take it anywhere and it doesn’t develop her character much, if at all. Maybe the writers could have included her more by either her picking up the list accidently or not so accidently. Perhaps she shows off some of her own intentions and goals similar to characters like Percival. The grey, moody scenes involving Toby Jones, John Goodman, and James Faulkner, playing the head of MI6, give a nice contrast to the colourful scenes in Berlin. The three great actors here play their characters perfectly, even with the limited amount of screen time.
The rest of the cast are also limited in their screen time, but also contain a lot of great actors and also provide some fantastic scenes. You have Eddie Marsan, as I mentioned earlier playing Spyglass, who with his little screen time gives us a lovable character we want to make it to the end. There’s Bill Skarsgård, a contact Lorraine meets for help a few times in the movie. He acts as a kind of Q character from Jame Bond. The Skarsgård family are all great actors and Bill is no exception. Then there’s Til Schweiger, you may know him from Inglorious Basterds, who plays a mysterious Watchmaker. He’s one of the many characters where you could easily have a separate movie for each of the major characters and they would all be at least good. Even some of the supporting cast are good, including a lot of the KGB agents. The cast is absolutely solid.
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The film has a consistent and self-aware style to it. Although set just before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, a lot of the film’s colour scheme and shots make it feel like Cyberpunk films such as Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell. Sci-fi movies appear to be moving back into Cyberpunk style from the more happy style of Space Operas. (Although Star Wars films are obviously still being released every year). I’m happy with either, but I’m also excited to see some more Cyberpunk films come back, like the Blade Runner sequel I still need to see. The fight scenes in Atomic Blonde are fantastic, however, are used sparingly. Each fight makes you feel every hit and stretch the characters make. Down to the twists of the characters swiveling on the spot and the sound of a leather jacket creasing when a character goes to punch someone. Thankfully, the cuts in the fight are few and far between, allowing us to actually see what is happening and enjoy the action.
The music choice is near perfect. A good blend of classic tracks from around 1989, the year the film is set in, and remixes/modern tracks tie the film together splendidly. There are a few songs made purely for the film, but none of them stand out compared to the commercial tracks. I feel that music in film and television that has a mix of these commercial and original tracks needs to work on the original ones to make sure they are up to the same standard set by the commercial tracks chosen to also be in the film.
Although there are those problems with the film’s identity, the pacing is good. I mentioned earlier about the switching between Lorraine on her mission and her then back at MI6. Some films mess this up easily, where you get taken out of the film because of bad editing or poor writing choices. And again, those few extra minutes at the end of the flick seem to drag it on just a tad more it doesn’t need.
This film is a nice solo director debut, and I’m thoroughly looking forwards to any future projects this guy works on, including Deadpool 2. Atomic Blonde allows you to relax and enjoy the spy action. I feel like I am being a little harsh with some of Atomic Blonde’s problems. It is a lot of fun, though it’s a shame about those few flaws it does have.
Unfortunately, you can’t un-fuck what’s been fucked.
Originally published at bodaciousboad.wordpress.com on January 10, 2018.
