Atomic Blonde: Taking a Break with a Movie Review

Blonde v Blond

Taking a break from writing is refreshing.  It doesn’t have to be a long break.  Maybe just an afternoon outdoors.  Or a trip to a crowded place for people watching.  Tuesday, at my local theatre, all movies are $5.  Can’t pass that up!  So, I decided to catch Atomic Blonde.

What I liked about it immediately was that the title spelled Blonde correctly.  Few people, editors included, understand that there are two spellings for the word.  Blond is the masculine form, Blonde is the female.  So, for future reference, if you are telling a Blonde joke or a Blond joke, in written form, make sure you know the gender of your blond! Unless you are describing the color in general, then stick with Blond.  Confusing enough?

Movie Review

I digress.  The trailer for the movie was spectacular and sucked me in immediately.  Charlize Theron as a badass spy/killer, kissing girls, and kicking guys asses?  All set in the late ’80’s, in Cold War Era Berlin?  Yes, please!

Unfortunately, the overall movie didn’t leave me with the same feels.  One of the major annoyances I had were many dramatic close ups of Charlize smoking.  A couple of scenes like that, and OK.  She’s beautiful, cool, and smokes like a chimney.  Got it.  But there were a few too many that just became distracting.  Then there were some pieces of the story that seemed disjointed in their telling.  Again, I think it was for dramatic pretenses, but left me wondering at one point what the hell was going on.  In the end, I got it all (I think), but I felt like the director (and/or the writer) was trying just a tad too hard to make the film feel noir and artsy.  Which it was, without all the FLARE.

Atomic

I think Charlize and James McAvoy did a great job with what they were given, and the fight scenes were short of amazing.  Some of Charlize’s bruising, visible in the movie, had to be legit from her training or just filming such scenes over and over.  Honestly, I don’t understand how she did much of it because her frame is so thin.  It seems like there wouldn’t be enough power or muscle behind some of her punches and kicks.  Visually though, it was a joy and I thank her for her efforts.  Also, please Charlize, don’t kick my ass if we ever cross paths!

In the end, I liked it enough and I’ll probably see it again when it comes out on video.

Plus, it was a trip down memory lane, remembering when President Reagan said those famous words: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” and all the scenes that played out afterwards of the chaos and celebrations of that fateful night in Berlin.

Did any of you see the movie?  What were your thoughts?  Leave a comment in the section below and let me know.

— KT