"Gray: Lorraine Broughton, an expert in escape and evasion. Proficient in intelligence collection and hand to hand combat. That’s an impressive set of skills.

Lorraine Broughton: Talents can be overrated." - Atomic Blonde

Yesterday I went to the theater and saw the new movie called "ATOMIC BLONDE" Directed by David Leitch and starring Charlize Theron.

Last evening I glanced at a couple of reviews concerning the movie to see what the word on the street was. I must say I was a bit surprised, both of the reviews where like "Bah"....

Let's start:

I knew nothing about the movie other than it was made by the good people from John Wick. (And ain't that the best way to see a film?)

The movie was directed by David Leitch, who directed some scenes in the great John Wick flick. He started his career has a stunt guy, and has worked immensely in that field before. (And it shows in his work.) Atomic Blonde was his first feature directorial debut.

Note: I liked John Wick a great deal. I believe it can be the film that gave birth to new action film renaissance, that we start to see raising.

Like some people I was expecting a sort of John Wick spin of with a female lead. I think the trailer was trying to hint at that too.

I was mistaken.

Atomic Blonde is completely their own thing. It's not even an action movie. It's a spy movie first and it has some terrific action scenes.

Fiction and Fact

First thing I liked abou the film was the fact that it takes place in Berlin 1989 during the fall of the wall. But it's not about the wall and it's falling.

"The Berlin wall is about to fall... this is not that story" - This is a quote form the film.

This appears on screen in the first 5 minutes... so already I was engaged in it. This was specially important to me, since I think movies and stories should be very careful when portraying "real" events. People tend to forget that it's fiction. However I like History a lot and based on real events , movies. So here they nailed it. They took a very important event in Europe's history and made a story around it.

It says "this is not a dumb film and it's only a film even if it has things to say"

The structure

A thing those two reviewers complained about, was the story structure...

Well... (This is not a spoilers, the film starts like this) Charlize's character is being interviewed in a room by some MI6 and CIA officers, 10 days after the fact. The movie is sort of a flashback, there are the events in Berlin and then we have Charlize in a room in London 10 days after.

The complain was that it was trying to hard to be smart. Trying to do too many things and eventually failing.

I don't think it was trying to do too many things at all. It's super simple. She is talking about what happened.

Simple and fun while adding just a degree of storytelling.... I mean... when was the last time we saw a spy movie or any movie that it's not told in a completely forward way?

Another complain was "If she is there talking, I know she did not die in Berlin. So that makes me less engage" First of all, I do not need to fear for someones death to be engaged.... If I go see James Bound I don't expect him to die. Plus there are other forms of tension. Again I must respect the choice and bravery they had by telling us she would not die in Berlin... this is just a movie, she is here alive, enjoy. Bravo!!

And there is the after talk section where she can potentially get killed.

The Action

As I said I went to this movie expecting it to be a straight action film.

I will say this: Even if it's not primarily an action movie it has better action than most films out there.

It is fantastic!

One thing that sometimes get's to me is when you have a female lead and she just take guys down like they where nothing, like a small women would be just as strong as 3 gigantic Russian mafia dudes... Good action should be realistic (unless you're in the matrix etc...) and when filmmakers completely ignore the fact that, that person could not stop all those punches like she was a body builder. This get's to me, just because it get's me out of the movie.

Here without ever making it an issue that she is a woman, all the action is credible. The way she takes down big guys could work in real life. That alone was terrific for me. There is a concern and dedication by the filmmakers to make good action.

The stunt work is terrific.

There is sequence in one continuous shot (I think it's actually 3 shots) that it's the best action sequence I've seen in the last couple years. Some majestic stuff.

Note: Action is the hardest and most demanding type of filmmaking there is, be it in skill level, time, resources etc... And it's the style that is really on a low level... now a days it's all shaky camera, we don't understand anything, there are no stunts , the actors don't know how to fight... and so on... Not in Atomic Blonde!

"If you can make action well, you're the greatest" - Quentin Tarantino.

Acting

First of all I must give major respect to Charlize Theron for her performance here.

She had to do a lot of the stunts in this movie... She must have had some martial arts, gun handling training. And this is a small movie... I mean it's not lord of the rings nor Transformers... It's a mid scale film that took some risks, and an actress of her statute had this major training for it... Think she should be considered for female action start award.

They even make a small inside "joke" out of it. If you know filmmaking techniques and so on... you know that if the actor covers it's face and we then cut, the stunt guy will take over. Here they do that with her face, but then with out cutting we see that it was actually Charlize. Bravo!!!

Besides the action she did , she is great as usual. She looks great in every dress she is a. terrific actress that embodies the character and is not afraid to underplay when necessary. Five stars for her!!!

James MacAvoy, is just great , great in this role. Again a fantastic actor that can do anything. Here he is a rock start type Spy. Great!

And we also have John Goodman! Personally I just love to see him in a good movie. I believe he is an American treasure and has the skill of any master actor... for some reason he has been in some bad movies. Not this one, he plays a CIA agent.

The Soundtrack

Again some people where complaining about it. That it's too present or tries this and that.

I think the music is great. Just great 80's soundtrack. And I usually do not love 80's soundtrack's, like the Drive one everyone love it... I really did not.

This one is just great! I'm listening to it while writing this.

They also use it in a very cool way, in the spirit of the "this is just a movie" atitude I've mention before. They say that with the music and again had the courage to have a tremendous soundtrack and play it loud!!!!

Recommend you have a listen.

In Short

Atomic Blonde it's not a world changing movie... but then again witch one is?...

It knows it's not world changing but it also knows It can be smart, rather than playing for the most common lower denominator.

It can be intelligent and entertaining.

Knows it's fiction work and it has a historical event has the background.

A espionage flick with some incredible action scenes.

Has a simple story , well told.

Some great Music and great acting.

It's a mid budget action film in an era of 50 thousand $ or 200 Million $ and it is true to it's nature and vision.

I really hope we get a renaissance of mid budget films that are despairing... and this one can be part of that up raising. I would love to see that happen.

So I would tell you to go see it in a cinema... not only because it's the BEST way to see a film. (Films are made to be seen in the cinema) but this movies will only be made if they make money. John Wick did well and chapter two did even better... good news.

Atomic Blonde, a good old-fashioned stylized action flick. The way it's suposed to be.

Let me know what you think, if you have seen it?

David Percival: You can't un-fuck what's been fucked.

As always, thank you for reading.

Photos (except Logo) from the movie or it's promotional campaign.