See It at the Movies

ATOMIC BLONDE

By Joyce & Don Fowler
Posted 8/2/17

ATOMIC BLONDE * * (Good action, stupid plot) Charlize Theron plays the beautiful, tougher-than-nails spy Lorraine, whose assignment is to find a list of foreign agents. The action takes place on both sides of the Berlin Wall in 1989. She hooks up with

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See It at the Movies

ATOMIC BLONDE

Posted

ATOMIC BLONDE

* * ½

(Good action, stupid plot)

Charlize Theron plays the beautiful, tougher-than-nails spy Lorraine, whose assignment is to find a list of foreign agents. The action takes place on both sides of the Berlin Wall in 1989. She hooks up with British spy David Percival (James McAvoy) and we are never quite sure where he is coming from. In fact, we're never quite sure where anyone is coming from – or going.

The movie opens with Lorraine being debriefed by two suits (John Goodman and Toby Jones), telling a sordid and confused tale of her attempts to locate the list. She is chased by Russian spies, but not before she wipes out a few dozen of them, taking quite a beating herself, but always rising to fight another day.

Some of the battles go on forever, with people being shot, strangled, beaten with hotplates, corkscrews and any objects available to do damage. There are car chases galore, one ending up in the bottom of the river.

Jumping back and forth from East to West Berlin, Lorraine easily finds her prey, while they also seem to know where she is all the time. The action is swift and extremely violent, with our heroine always coming out on top.

The photography is good and the production is slick, but the story is pretty lame with too many coincidences. Action film lovers will probably enjoy the melee.

Rated a big R, with profanity, extreme violence, nudity and lesbian sex.

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