Charlize Theron brings a relentless intensity, dominating physical presence, and icy coolness in this action-packed spy thriller
Move over James Bond, there’s a new spy in town…and her name is Lorraine Broughton.
For the holdouts who believe a woman can’t kick as much ass as a man, well…let’s just say you wouldn’t want to meet Lorraine in a stairway.
MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is tasked to go to Berlin in order to retrieve a top-secret list of undercover operatives. The only problem is she’s not the only person who wants it…and her cover is blown early on…and Germany is in social turmoil preceding the toppling of the Berlin Wall. So it’s safe to say she’s got a lot on her plate.
Theron is fantastic in the role of Lorraine, capably portraying an iciness while still letting the viewer know she hasn’t completely lost her humanity. She has a job to do, and while she’s working, that’s her priority (“I’ve never lost a package,” she says with pride to an asset she’s protecting). Theron reportedly did most (if not all) of her own stunts, and it shows. Her precision in the action scenes along with her ferocious intensity is captivating, so much so that you almost forget there’s an actual plot behind all the action. Then again, the whole film could’ve featured nothing but close-ups of her feet as she walks down Berlin’s sidewalks, pours glasses of vodka, and soaks in porcelain-white bathtubs filled with ice, and it still would’ve been captivating.
From the film’s opening seconds it’s immediately clear that in Atomic Blonde, mood itself is a character as big and important and dominating as Lorraine herself: the chilly atmosphere mixed with 80s German grunge of baggy shirts, leather jackets, and mohawks; lighting in muted blues, greens, and reds interspersed here and there with neon; grimy stairwells and buildings in disarray that somehow look…glamorous. And we can’t forget that killer soundtrack.
The music was a huge part in setting the mood of the trailer, so I was extremely glad to see it wasn’t just a marketing gimmick and was applied to the entire film. And you know what? It works. I didn’t know that seeing Charlize Theron banging spies’ heads against freezer doors to the tune of 80s pop like Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” and After The Fire’s “Der Kommissar” was something that I needed, but I do! The songs are never intrusive or weirdly placed and will most assuredly have your feet tapping along as operatives are shot and strangled. Tyler Bates’ original tracks are pretty great, too, almost as if they’re unused, unearthed music from the 80s. It all works and it’s all fantastic.
The action is definitely one of the film’s main highlights, fully commanding your attention with its ferocity and skillfully long takes, so it’s a shame that there’s not more of it. There’s plenty, believe me—freezer door head-banging, exploding vehicles, ice picks to the head, and more bonkers ways to threaten, maim, and kill that will have you covering your mouth with equal parts shock and glee—but Atomic Blonde is definitely more of a spy thriller than a straight up action film. We have covert operations, double crossings, and assets to protect, everyone with their own motivations and worries about who to (and not to) trust. Unfortunately, it’s the spy parts of the “spy thriller” that ends up slowing down the action train Lorraine’s driving. It would’ve been a real treat if the entire movie had the same frenetic energy as its action scenes and set-pieces, but unfortunately the pacing is one of its downfalls. Even an action film needs to have some semblance of plot, but Atomic Blonde could’ve done more with less. If the spy aspects were not completely complicated, per se, they were unnecessary. The scenes of espionage, interspersed with a present-day Lorraine retelling her time in Berlin, tends to slow the film down and take the audience down from the high of whatever action sequence preceded it.
Aside from the pacing, my other problem (which could also be a compliment) is that it needed more Lorraine. As much as I appreciated the supporting characters and their actor counterparts (James McAvoy as Lorraine’s Berlin contact, Sofia Boutella as a French operative, and John Goodman and Toby Jones as her present-day interrogators), I couldn’t help feeling that every time they showed up, they were only taking away time we could’ve been spending with Lorraine, diving deeper into her plot, backstory, and what makes her tick. I understand having a well-rounded supporting cast of characters, but I almost feel like director David Leitch wasn’t completely aware of how much of an awesome character he had in Lorraine. Plus, since some of the double-crossings and character motivations were a bit hard to keep straight (or nonexistent), nixing some of the characters entirely in favor of additional ass-kicking time with Lorraine would have been more than welcome, killing two birds with one stone.
Theron’s Lorraine fills Atomic Blonde with such a relentless intensity, dominating physical presence, and an icy coolness, that it’s not difficult to imagine her coming back for a few sequels. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s still a good chunk of intrigue about her backstory to unpack. But if an Atomic Blonde franchise is on the horizon, to paraphrase an artist whose songs aren’t featured in the film: a little less espionage, a little more action, please.
7.5/10
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