AUGUST 8, 2017
As I was leaving a screening of the new Charlize Theron film “Atomic Blonde,” my friend asked me if I was going to review it. “Probably not,” I said dismissively, “I’m not sure there’s anything to talk about. It’s really just ultra-stylish hooey.”
And “Atomic Blonde” is ultra-stylish hooey. But what hooey! The more I thought about it, the more interesting it became.
There’s something for everyone in “Atomic Blonde.” Look at the photo above. For action fans, this is one of the most action-packed films of the year — these are real-life stunt people getting the stuffings knocked out of them, not using CGI, and hooray for that! I’ll get to the remarkable action work here in a second.
And, not to get too gay on you, but look at her outfit! A beautiful mix of black and white contrasted with a muted background. And Theron sports at least another dozen (or two) carefully coordinated outfits throughout the course of the film. If you were thinking about making a drinking game every time Theron goes up in a fabulous outfit, you’ll be plastered by the end of the first hour.
More importantly, “Atomic Blonde” marks the rise of Theron as the world’s leading female action star. With films like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Angelina Jolie held the title, but by now she has virtually disappeared from film work. After “The Avengers” and “Lucy,” Scarlett Johansson seemed poised to assume the helm, but the flop of “Ghost in the Shell” has certainly slowed that momentum.
Which leaves us with Charlize with her statuesque sophistication, and the coolness of her demeanor combined with the heat of her action skills that make for a powerful combination. There are moments in “Atomic Blonde” where she appears to be absolutely worn out, yet somehow she manages of get up and continue the good fight.
One note: I haven’t seen as much cigarette smoking in a film in ages – I felt I was going to get lung cancer from even watching the thing. But I have to say that Theron can communicate more through a sultry puff of a cigarette than many actresses could do with a Tennessee Williams monologue. And James McAvoy as her dissolute contact attacks with his smoking style, extracting his cigarettes from the pack with his teeth.
The plot? Who cares?
OK, it’s 1989 on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) is brought in for questioning on her latest assignment by her bosses, Brit Eric Gray (Toby Jones) and the CIA’s Emmett Kurzfeld (John Goodman). “Atomic Blonde” is a flashback of that assignment, including her first meeting with her contact in Berlin, lounge lizard David Percival (McAvoy), as she tries to expose a double agent and retrieve a list of active field agents in the Soviet Union that is hidden in a watch.
That’s all you really need to know — it’s pretty much all hooey that provides some great opportunities for costume changes for Theron, whose character seems to exist entirely on Stoli on the rocks.
Now we get to The Shot, which, aside from the stilettos, will be the main reason why “Atomic Blonde” will be remembered. Lorraine has rescued Spyglass (the always reliable Eddie Marsan), a Stasi agent who has stolen the list and memorized all of its content. After he is wounded, Lorraine has to fight off wave after wave of thugs in a stairwell, who are trying to stop Lorraine from bringing Spyglass to safety. (Who knew there were so many thugs in Berlin?)
In a remarkable five-minute single take, she shoots, stabs and kicks them all down the staircase (the stunt guys used in this film absolutely rock), and, in the same take, grabs Spyglass, loads him into a car and tries to escape through the streets of Berlin. I don’t know where this shot will rank in the annals of single-take wonders, but it’s an impressive achievement for director David Leitch (“John Wick”) and director of photography Jonathan Sela. Well done.
Otherwise, “Atomic Blonde” is pretty forgettable (I’ve forgotten most of it already), but it does prove one thing. Charlize Theron can do just about anything.
GRADE: B-
