Atomic Blonde (2017)

[baumer]

Discusss

[Jay Beezy]

Proof that even the best shot action sequences and some hot girl-on-girl feel empty if you're not invested in the story.

 

C

 

I'm still very much hopeful for David Leitch directing Deadpool 2, though.

Edited July 30, 2017 by Jay Beezy

[WrathOfHan]

Great action, shit story. I'm not even trying to make any sense of that plot.

[Barnack]

A bit like for John Wick 2, the movie felt like an excuse to go from action scene to action scene that I watched a bit numb not even trying to understand what was going on that much.

 

As great as the long "sequence" scene was, it felt a bit in a different movie, specially the children of men car sequence and the slow motion did kill what it was building. And when we got out of the car it felt like we got back to the movie, not has bad as the action scene with lot of horse in A Million Ways to Die in the West that felt like they were not directed by MacFarlane, but still in and out.

 

Felt very different than the other action scene, and even those were uneven they were by moment the standard late 90 early 2000 Hollywood standard cheap fast cut heavily edited tight camera shot action sequence, to some time a more longer you see more of it action sequence, with some that felt forced (wait for the cops to come and fight in the apartment didn't felt necessary with time to flee, why enter the building with all the bad guys for the stair case fight).

 

- Even thought it felt like it missed time to clearly tell the story, a lot of filling was used (fly over shot of city showing night traffic), artistic shot of a bar, other effect like that, could be connected to the lower budget

 

- Bombastic use of music and little score

 

- Lack of budget was felt a little bit by how much time was spent in Theron character neon room (or other characters rooms) or the almost free to do testimony room

 

- Didn't like the editing at all, the transition scene to scene didn't had much coherence and felt like an bunch of scene played one after the others, to the a bit of suicide squad like of playing London calling for the character going to Paris.

 

- Multiple ending syndrome a little bit to me ?, we have the end of the interrogation that feel like a movie ending, followed by something that feel like a sequel setup instead

 

Most of this could be me, because the plot was confusing me even thought it is the ultra classic Mission Impossible list of agents microfilm, with everyone involved wanting it. I prefer my excuse to go to set piece to set piece (when it feel that is the case) to be simpler like John Wick 1 and not JW 2 or like the Raid 1. If the story become complex I prefer if the people involved have heart in it, like The raid 2.

 

Big deception for me with how much it was hyped month's ago, I would not expect great legs or a big audience for a sequel like JW 2 had.

[WrathOfHan]

2 hours ago, Barnack said:

 

As great as the long "sequence" scene was, it felt a bit in a different movie, specially the children of men car sequence and the slow motion did kill what it was building. And when we got out of the car it felt like we got back to the movie, not has bad as the action scene with lot of horse in A Million Ways to Die in the West that felt like they were not directed by MacFarlane, but still in and out.

 

You know, I was actually thinking this as the fight was happening. It's still great but feels like such a different film.

[Water Bottle]

Fun if nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is. The list every spy movie seems to love that of course contains every undercover agent out there is over played as it is but like in this movie the Russians already had the list and they lost it and it was about getting the list back before the Russians to protect the agents on it but like the Russians already had it. 

 

Also her being a CIA agent posing as a double agent between MI6 and the Soviets felt like the movie was being clever for the sake of being clever.

 

But the score was great, the action scenes work well, and the cast is top notch. Like I said loads of fun.

 

B+

[MrPink]

B-

 

Movie would be better off if it told its story in a straightforward manner as opposed to shifting back and forth between a briefing. The action scenes are fine with one standout and the soundtrack, while full of notable and great tracks, feels completely uninspired. Its usage of songs feels similar to Suicide Squad in that it just keeps hammering you with songs from the era over and over

[filmlover]

The plot isn't as clever as it thinks it is and the twists don't make a whole lot of sense, but this has a lot of great fight scenes (that entire stairway scene, Jesus) and a good soundtrack of late 80s tunes. Charlize Theron definitely solidifies herself as a badass chick here, while James McAvoy does the nut job thing he does so well again to good effect. It's nothing revolutionary (and I would've guessed that it started as a graphic novel even if the opening credits didn't so), but it's one of the better action movies in what's been a mostly disappointing summer for the genre. B

[dxmatrixdt]

I give this an A  I was so into watching Charlize kick ass all the way through.  My eyes were bulging the entire time.  I loved every second of it.  Honestly, I had no idea what was going on the entire movie.  I never knew who was who.  I also do not know much about the Berlin Wall and much about that time period so if I was well read in the subject I might have enjoyed it more.  It is like if you understand some physics, then it makes sense in Transformers that the all-spark is hidden under the Hoover Dam because the potential energy of the dam shields the energy output from the all spark   (radiant energy).   Usually with films like this when I am that into a film but I have no idea what is going on, it slips to a B+ or gets a rewatch with subtitles.  But this one gets an A from me.  It was rich in European sets and culture.  Reminded me a bit of action movies from the 90s.  It had that John Wick world building (a little).  Remember this was a different time so it cannot be completely contemporary art-house.  She is more slow moving than John Wick but you could feel her every move.  Every move she made was believable.  Her grunts and every hit she took made sense.  I bought into all of it.   I thought the soundtrack worked well for this.  In Baby Driver I did not care much for the soundtrack.  Why would he be listening to those songs??  I related so much to that character except for the songs.  If i was him it would be like punk rock or metal.  Not this particular playlist to show off your skill set to. 

[baumer]

I kind of loved most of it.  I, like the rest of you didn't really know what was going on most of the time and it didn't really make a lot of sense at the very end.  Why was she "wproking" for that dude?  I have no idea.  But the line that was omnipotent in the film, "it's fun to double cross and deceive the deceiver" was kind of the theme of the movie.  There were times when the film crawled a little bit but then, like a horror movie having a kill every ten minutes or so, this one had a ridiculously awesome fight scene every few minutes.  And casting Theron in this worked beautifully.  She's tall, thick and looks like she could kick some ass.  There's wasn't one fight where I didn't believe her character could do the things she was doing.  Columbiana this is not.  The cast was excellent as well.  McAvoy was fun and looked terrific as well.  

 

The soundtrack was about as perfect as you can get as well.  The late 80's Euro-vibe was awesome......from 99 Red Balloons (not going to try German, sorry) to Reach Out and Touch Faith to more American stuff like Till Tuesday's Hush Hush and Flock of Seagulls, it was just littered with great music.  I also loved the European setting as it felt like a hybrid of John wick and Bourne. 

 

And then there was the fights.  That stairwell scene was just awesome.  She got the hell beat out of her and then gave it right back.  It's a terrific scene and expertly directed and masterfully edited.  

 

I'm giving this an 8/10 because I had such a blast in it.  But if the plot was a little less convoluted, it could have been a 9.

[dashrendar44]

A needlessly convoluted slog of an action movie trying to be Usual Suspects and James Bond by the way of John Wick all at once but failing to make a significant and implicative dent living up to those influences rendering Theron's "stone cold action bitch" schtick hollow and repetitive despite carefully crafted close combat choregraphy.(The Suicide Squad-like soundtrack "80's Greatest Hits" didn't help, so tacky and painfully distracting at times).

[Deep Wang]

The movie got off to a bad start for me with the use of Cat People during the credits.

 

If Tarantino has already used a song, any song really, you shouldn't use it.  Especially if you are going to use it in an almost identical fashion.

[baumer]

Convoluted plot aside, this film has really grown on me.  I think I'm starting to love it.

[dashrendar44]

On 07/08/2017 at 4:18 PM, Boner Omega said:

The movie got off to a bad start for me with the use of Cat People during the credits.

 

If Tarantino has already used a song, any song really, you shouldn't use it.  Especially if you are going to use it in an almost identical fashion.

 

Yeah, the needle drops were cringe worthy most of the times when not on the nose, like Suicide Squad cringe-worthy bad calling too much attention to itself and flat. Didn't felt like watching a cohesive movie but a music video patchwork set to 80's Greatest Hits vol.2.

[Ezen Baklattan]

It's messy and convoluted, but decently enjoyable with a style unique enough that just avoids becoming obnoxious. 

[DAJK]

Honestly, I felt kinda bad saying this at first, but after the first half hour I was completely lost as to what was going on. At first I was scared I was just getting dumb or something, like when I was 7 and and couldn't follow the plot of the Bourne movies. But I'm hearing the same thing from a lot of people.

 

At least Charlize kicked ass, and McAvoy was great. That once action set piece in the stairwell was incredible.

 

C-

[KGator]

A lot of great 80s songs, a lot of great fight scenes, a great performance from McAvoy and a pointless, convoluted plot that makes less and less sense the more you think about it.  The best suggestion is to ignore the plot altogether or it will just bring the rest of the movie down.

 

I give it a B.  Worth seeing but while those fight scenes would have been incredible 5-10 years ago the standard of excellence has increased significantly since then.  A fine but forgettable film.  Perhaps with a better plot or an actual twist at the end that made sense it would have been a classic.

[Blankments]

One phenomenal scene does not make a great film. Atomic Blonde proves that in spades as the heavily pushed "stairway fight" lives up to the hype in nearly every way. It's exciting, well choreographed, and finally gives the film the visceral nature it should have throughout. It doesn't stick the landing, but that's okay since the fourteen minutes preceding that is enthralling action greatness.

 

It's a true shame that the rest of the film doesn't match that scene in quality. Taking the worst elements of the John Wick films and leaving behind all its charms, Atomic Blonde is a bland and forgettable dud. The direction outside of the action is utterly horrendous, forcing a try-hard style on everything. The only flourish that remotely works is characters talking to the cameras at point, but that doesn't make up for blandly "cool" lettering, a soundtrack full of greatest hits that doesn't match to what's happening on screen half the time, and an ugly color pallet that makes sense textually but makes one wonder "Why does this need to look like every generic action film of the last decade?".

 

The actors don't fare much better. Marsan and Boutella clearly stand out as people who are actually able to add some character to their underwritten parts, but every single part in this film is underwritten beyond belief. Somehow, it becomes easy to forget that Theron and McAvoy are outstanding actors, because they both do absolutely nothing note in this film to make their parts memorable outside of the action scenes. Honestly, the argument can be made that Theron does not fit the role; she is an excellent actress and clearly can do action well, but the part of Lorraine desperately needs someone with movie star charisma in order to make her a protagonist worth rooting for. As it is, she never captivates or even becomes sympathetic (until maybe the final twenty minutes of the film), and thus, there is no reason to care about anything going on.

 

The most annoying part of all the characters being underwritten though is that the plot is overwritten. No one goes to see an action film like Atomic Blonde for the plot. Yet for some reason, this movie stretches out the generic plot of two Mission: Impossible films and a few Bond films into two hours of convolution that constantly confuses in an obnoxious sense. The film frequently spends far too much time on this plot too, going a full half hour at one point with no action at all, just a plot full of similar looking characters re-enacting tropes audiences know by heart now.

 

There are more problems to Atomic Blonde, of course. Any attempt to make the stakes more personal for Lorraine feel half-baked and the only time she actually feels like a person is when she's talking to Boutella's character after sex scenes clearly designed for the male gaze. However, to attack any more points would be overkill for a film that clearly doesn't deserve it.

 

Ultimately, Atomic Blonde is obnoxious in its uselessness, delivering absolutely nothing that hasn't been seen before, outside of an excellently choreographed and well done fight sequence. Alas, a movie that is only ten percent great does not excuse ninety percent of pure banally pulpy misery. Atomic Blonde should be forgotten like the direct-to-video schlock it would've been without a famous cast in it, being a dreadful waste of time for both them and their audience. D

[John Marston]

dull as shit. Overly convoluted

 

D

Edited August 31, 2017 by John Marston

[Goffe]

I had no idea what was happening most of the time. Still better than this year's John Wick. The protest/stairs/car chase sequence is INTENSE. 5/10