This is what action movies should be. Between this movie and Baby Driver, we've seen in just a couple months the future of action film. Brutal action paired with fierce performances and stylish delivery. They move fast and fight dirty, and before you start taking things too seriously they knock you back to reality with a killer soundtrack.
Atomic Blonde takes place at the end of the Cold War, in a no less chilly Berlin of 1989. The wall is about to come down but the international players are still scrambling for information and influence. A List appears, detailing the active spies and field agents in the Soviet Union, and its carrier is murdered by the KGB. While MI6 agents sparring over microfilm intel isn't exactly fresh, that's not the point of this venture. Another agent named Lorraine is dispatched immediately to recover the list and eliminate the threat of Satchel, the double agent responsible for the recent murder.
The moment she sets foot in Berlin, she is attacked by the enemy. The enemy, here, could be anyone, as she learns, and the mostly nameless thugs are all there for one sole purpose: to be whooped on by the woman. Charlize Theron plays Lorraine with magnetic badassery, the kind she has exhibited many times before in Monster and Mad Max: Fury Road, here taken to an exciting new level. She does her own stunts, and still she acts rings around everyone else in action films today. Lorraine is the hero we need for the movie, and Theron is the hero action movies have needed for years. Compare any shot of her here to a popular action movie and ask yourself if that man has half of her talent or grit. You think of Schwarzenegger or his ilk and you may see an icon, but he hasn't got the stamina, the technique, or the heart Theron displays here.
Time and again she kicks ass, and by the end of the movie we see the strain it has put on her. We also see that her body isn't the only thing at work in the picture, as she completely turns the tables on every single man in the movie. She's not who she appears to be, and she's not really what anyone else wants her to be. She is her own agent, and her agency (pardon my wordplay) is what's really center-screen here. She rocks the world of fashion, too, as her getup is both drop-dead sexy and appropriately lethal. She kicks booty with high heels and never misses a step. The best part? She makes her mark and directly inserts herself into the male-dominated genre, and doesn't need or want your permission or commentary. Like Jessica Chastain's character in Miss Sloane, she is the leading lady in all her glory, and we want to be her the whole time until the very end when we find out she's actually on a level so far beyond us that we despair in our ecstasy.
Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. But that was my reaction. My dear friend commented afterward, and I paraphrase, "I was wondering why her accent was so bad the whole time. We all know she can kill any accent she wants. But then she [SPOILER] and I totally got it. She was giving us clues the whole time." Clever bastards.
Director David Leitch (John Wick and the upcoming Deadpool 2) knows how to keep the movie intense. Sure, it's not as Dramatic or Important as, say, Dunkirk, but this movie knows what it's doing and stays true to that vision. And what a vision: Leitch and his cinematographer Jonathan Sela (John Wick, The Midnight Meat Train) douse everything with cold, neon lights and shoot sharply contrasting textures. They view the action up close and personal, and the lengthy climax -- a fight inside a stairwell as Lorraine tries to leave Berlin with her charge -- is a long single shot I wish I could have timed. It's a relentless exercise in intensity and immediacy, a masterclass in planning and execution with awesome style.
PS: I can scarcely believe I forgot to mention it, but James McAvoy is also fabulous in this flick, and he seems to be having a blast. Who wouldn't in those bell-bottoms?? But he's my boyfriend, so back off.
No comments:
Post a Comment