Atomic Blonde

I've actually had this movie on DVD since early last year, got it at the same time as The Foreigner and The Hitman's Bodyguard, and just kept not getting to it. Figured I would get stuff on Netflix out of the way first, since those could drop off any time.

Anyway, set as the Berlin Wall is falling, the story is told through flashback during a debriefing by Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron), a British spy sent to Berlin to investigate the death of one of their agents, and the disappearance of a list of all known spies, across all countries.

Lorraine is trying to work with Percival (James McAvoy), who presents himself as an erratic, boozing druggie, but is actually the head of the Berlin section of MI6. There's a Russian by the name of Bremovych after Lorraine and the list, an inexperienced French spy that gets entangled with Lorraine, and a Stasi agent that produced the list and supposedly has it memorized. The plan was to find the list again, get it and Spyglass (the Stasi guy) out of Berlin. The plan fails, possibly because of the mysterious double agent "Satchel".

With a movie like this, you expect the double-crosses and the surprise reveals. There was something early in the movie, what I can't recall, that gave it away who Satchel was. Although to be fair, I was prepared for it to be any one of a number of characters. Percival's putting on an act, but how many layers are there to it? Perhaps the French agent isn't as out of her depth as she appears. And John Goodman's lurking as a CIA guy, can't trust that dude.

The thing I like about the fight scenes is that it takes a lot to put a person down. Short of a head shot, nobody falls easily. One guy gets cracked in the face with a ladder, and is able to get up in a couple of minutes. Dude gets stabbed - repeatedly - with a corkscrew, is able to eventually get back up and keep pursuing Lorraine. The fights aren't always pretty, the people involved are tearing each other up and getting worn down. There's one point where the two people take a solid 5 to 10 seconds just getting to their feet and gathering their energy before the final rush.

The one issue is it's hard to feel bad for anyone when they experience misfortune. I hate getting to the end and feeling like a fool, even if I think that's what the movie wants. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, to find out the character I thought was sympathetic has been playing the audience all along. So even when there is no other shoe, I'm fighting the emotional reaction the movie wants to provoke. Maybe that's a personal problem. McAvoy gives an excellent performance because he plays an obnoxious shit so well that even when things go bad for him, you aren't sorry to see it happen. Theron's very effective at getting you to feel sympathetic for her, while being pretty competent (not invincible, though). The agent left exposed and trying to finish her job anyway, then having to deal with bureaucrats criticizing how she handled it.

I was pretty happy with this overall. I might enjoy it more the second time around, when I know the twists and I can just sit back and not play my game of trying to figure out the mystery.