
Movie Review: Atomic Blonde
What can I say about this movie that hasn’t maybe been said already? Well, for one it’s tries to be many things and never settles on an identity. So Charlize Theron kicks a lot of ass, I mean, a lot. The previews have been pinning her character as a female James Bond, but James Bond didn’t stab baddies in the neck. She’s ruthless in this film. Jason Bourne envies what Theron’s badass Lorraine Broughton (not so badass of a name) does in this film. It’s more violent than I expected it to be. Some parts are even cringe worthy.
WHAT’S THIS MOVIE ABOUT:
Theron plays an undercover MI6, no, not referring to the 6th Mission Impossible movie, it’s a British government spy organization. The time and place is is late 1980’s Berlin, in times of the Cold War. The Atomic Blonde, aka Lorraine, is sent there to investigate a murder of a fellow agent and to retrieve a very important list of double agents. Needles tot say there is a lot on Broughton’s plate and a lot to follow in the film.
While the plot shouldn’t be too difficult to follow, I found myself lost throughout. There are so many different faces bouncing onto the screen that it was hard to keep track of who is who, much less who is working with whom. The action is too frantic to be able to keep up, they also don’t do a good job of attempting to have you follow and elaborate. I constantly found myself thinking, whose the short quiet wimpy guy? Or who is the clean cut dude assisting in the coordination to Broughton?
HOW DID THE ACTORS DO:
Theron really gets it done. Kudos to her for getting down all the choreography training and getting into incredible shape to perform some of the stunts and fight scenes. She’s very fitting in this role, actually, may be the most fierce and intimidating female action character I’ve seen in a while.
Aside from Theron, there is a nice supporting cast to assist her. James McAvoy plays a sleazy Berlin confidant named David Percival. I liked McAvoy’s work here, as always. He plays a untrustworthy sidekick that you can’t necessarily trust, but you kinda want to. McAvoy is the right casting.
John Goodman plays one of the directors that’s conducting the mild interrogation with Broughton. He’s great in these sort of roles. He projects this directness about him that’s both serious and entertaining. To think about this man was mainly known for being on Roseanne for a big chunk of his career. Craziness.
The other supporting actors with significant parts are played by Sofia Boutella, who is rising fast, having already starred in the new Tom Cruise Mummy film. She’s solid in her role in this film, but not sure I get the Boutella hype? I mean she’s not super hot, she’s a serviceable actress, so what’s the big deal? Is it because her name rhymes with Nutella? Must be it. Another Broughton sidekick is Merkel, played by Bill Skarsgard. I swear I’m about to conduct a search as to how many Skarsgard’s are there?! Are they all brothers? Is there a Scandinavian law that forces all Skarsgards to become actors and head to Hollywood? Upon further search, this is what Imdb says on this matter:
- Son of Stellan Skarsgård and My Skarsgård.
- Brother of Alexander Skarsgård, Gustaf Skarsgård, Sam Skarsgård, Eija Skarsgård and Valter Skarsgård.
HOW DID IT LOOK AND SOUND:
WAS IT ENTERTAINING:

IS IT WORTH SEEING:
Movie Rating: RRuntime: 1 hr 55 minGenre: Action|Mystery|ThrillerRelease Date: July 28, 2017
Huge Charlize Theron fan over here, unfortunately not a big fan of this genre, which is why it’ll be on the rental to-watch list for me. Great review though. I didn’t really know what to expect of the film, having seen the trailer only once, but aesthetically it looks amazing, which can sometimes draw me in (Like The Neon Demon did, which then ended up being very disappointing). Enjoyed reading this!
Would you be interested in sharing your work on Movie Pilot? I’d like to invite you to join the platform, and I’d love to hear from you so I can to expand on that. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail, my contact details are on my “About” page. Hopefully talk soon!
Hi Charlot, thanks for checking out my review. I appreciate the nice words.I agree with your assessment. Your page is very interesting and has some great content. The Korean film piece was really good.