We’re deep into the summer movie going season with blockbusters and flops aplenty, and it’s pretty clear things are can only go uphill from here into what is usually a predictable dramatic movie season. Atomic Blonde seems to be one of the films that may come and go but certainly is not forgettable. How could it be? Based on the graphic novel, The Coldest City, this film doesn’t hold anything back.
Starring Charlize Theron as the leggy British MI6 agent, Lorraine Broughton, who’s sent to Berlin (set in 1989), where she’s after some very naughty German boys. Theron saunters around right before the collapse of the Berlin Wall in custom John Galliano and vintage Dior. Looking to meet up with fellow spy, James McAvoy, Theron encounters problems the second she steps off the tarmac looking for the double agent that is double crossing the MI6.
Packed with action sequences, some with music and without, it’s clear that the intended effect is for audiences is to not only hear Theron pack a punch (she does almost all of her own stunts) but to hear her take them as well. One memorable fight scene includes every woman’s best friend while walking home at night: a set of keys. Small touches like these are what will get this film added to plenty of millennial feminists’ movie shelves.
James McAvoy, complete with a fresh buzzcut and mesh tank tops, looks devilishly good as the man you love to hate. The chemistry between McAvoy and Theron is the perfect give and take relationship the two leads have throughout the film which only adds to the cat and mouse game being played on screen. Is McAvoy the double agent? Is he setting up our protagonist for mission’s failure?
Small dislikes include a soundtrack that could have been filled to the brim with more than a few 80s staples. While I appreciate George Michael’s Father Figure, it’s best use was probably not during one of the most dramatic fight scenes. Voices Carry by Til Tuesday didn’t seem to fit within it’s scene. The song’s music video alluded to domestic abuse and any Pop Up Video aficionado will know it just doesn’t fit being utilized during a scene where a woman is being murdered. Hmm.. okay.
The much talked about lesbian sex scene wasn’t as gratuitous as a media outlets made it out to be. Unlike Blue is The Warmest Color, the sex scene was under three minutes with Theron and Sofia Boutella (her small role as a French spy) and sensual as both actresses fondled one another in a bar to the bedroom. A lot of this film was electric and it wasn’t just left up to the romp between the two female characters. It’s no wonder that there’s already talk of a sequel if the box office projections are to be believed.
Overall, Atomic Blonde was worth the wait and without giving too much away, Charlize Theron could very well become a female Bond for a new generation. Especially if she continues kicking ass and taking names…which seems to be business as usual for her.
[Images via the Atomic Blonde website]
