Atomic Blonde is a Cold war Blast #movie_review

Imagine a female James Bond in the 1980’s and you have Atomic Blonde. I’m giving it a C+.
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Lorraine Broughton (played by Charlize Theron) is a MI-6 agent who was sent undercover to Berlin during the 1980’s, in the days before the wall comes down. Her task is to recover a secret list of agents before they fall into the wrong hands. Working with the deep undercover agent, David Percival (played by James McAvoy), she’s not sure who to trust as a secret double agent named Satchel plays both sides. 

​Based on the graphic novel “The Coldest City” by Antony Johnston, who along with Charlize Theron serve as one of the dozen or so executive producers. Atomic Blonde is a violent movie. Between the car crashes and fists flying, not too many people survive. But the plot has more twists and turns as each spy seems to be against everyone else. It leaves you guessing until the very end as to the identity of Satchel. 

​Charlize Theron kicks butt in this movie as she fights with her fists, guns and even a hot plate. I knew high heeled shoes were dangerous but as a weapon… yep! She’s always drinking vodka and ice, as well as chain smoking. If that doesn’t kill her, the KGB will. After playing a bad guy in the 8th Fast and Furious movie, she’s stepping up the action in Atomic Blonde, willing to use anything in her arsenal to get the information. 

​However, even with Charlize and James in starring roles as a support role of John Goodman, the movie feels much like the rest of the spy movies. Just switch out Charlize for Keanu Reeves or Tom Cruise and you have pretty much the same movie, except for one scene where the fighting actually looks like they are very tired. In the other spy movies, we never see the hero at the end of their rope.

​Atomic Blonde features nudity, two-girl action and a lot of violence. It’s probably not the movie to bring your parents to, nor the younger viewers. Although for us 80’s babies, the music will take us back! Wonderful songs! I would recommend that you wait to see it on DVD (more private and you can pause to see if you catch the clues) unless you are a big fan—then see it during the cheap viewing.