✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Cinema

Atomic Blonde film review ★★★★★

On 09 Aug 17, TIMES VARY

Atomic Blonde is a shiny neon-lit chrome-tipped vehicle for Charlize Theron, and she drives it incredibly well – but in no particular direction

By Daniel J Lewis on 4/8/2017

Atomic Blonde film review [STAR:3]
Atomic Blonde film review [STAR:3]
Atomic Blonde film review 3 Atomic Blonde film review Daniel Lewis
Atomic Blonde feels like a movie made for an Instagram generation: highly filtered, very attractive (occasionally sexy) and – dare it be said – obvious.


In fact, much like an Instagram feed, it rolls by like a series of arrestingly-colourful set pieces with little to connect them apart from the fact that they all happen to be in the same place and lined up one after another. It would probably be possible to watch half the film and walk away feeling just as satisfied, discarding all the half-efforts to construct something like a story in between.



But while we're here, the story is as follows: it’s 1989, the Berlin Wall is down and Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron), a badly-bruised MI6 operative, has just been brought in from the cold (Le Carré gets more than a nod in this plot). She is now undergoing a thorough debriefing by her chief (Toby Jones) and a CIA associate (John Goodman) about her botched mission.


The bulk of the film is a recounting of this mission: to retrieve a list containing details of every active field agent in the Soviet Union which is hidden in a watch. To capture both, Lorraine must enlist the help of another MI6 field agent (James McAvoy) who has gone rogue in the wilds of too-cool-for-school East Berlin. (The soundtrack is similarly right-on). Along the way, she rubs shoulders with a fresh-faced French agent, played by Sofia Boutella (who was a little bit more lively in The Mummy, ironically), with whom she has a fling.


While there are many twists and turns, none of them are particularly surprising. This is partly down to the fact that we never, ever doubt that Charlize Theron knows how to play the game and that she is in the lead. James McAvoy doesn’t even come close to making her quake in her boots – which is fine because Theron is very, very entertaining in them.



Charlize Theron and James McAvoy in East Berlin


A case in point arrives just over halfway through Atomic Blonde in the form of a dazzlingly good action sequence that will dominate discussion of this film and save it from potential two-star reviews (like this one could have been). Obviously, this part of the film plays to all of director David Leitch’s strengths – a stuntman by trade and part of the directorial team behind John Wick. Even if it just the result of editing-room trickery, the seamlessly flowing section is impressive work.


However, there is only so much you can be seduced by style alone. The way Charlize Theron and her assailants stagger about in exhaustion after beating each other to a bloody pulp seemed a beautifully apt metaphor for the current state of this kind of film: tired. Very tired.


If the traditional action-thriller – which Atomic Blonde aspires to be and often apes – is in decline, then this uber-stylish film is a brilliant stop on the way down.


What Atomic Blonde film review
Where Various Locations | MAP
When On 09 Aug 17, TIMES VARY
Price £determined by cinema
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Harrison Ford in Shrinking, AppleTV+ (Photo: Apple)
What to watch on TV this week
Culture After Dark: The Best Museum Late Night Openings
Culture After Dark: the best museum late-night openings

Editor's Picks

Best films out in August - A Ghost Story
Best films out in August
Cannes Film Festival 2017 line-up – The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola
The Best of Cannes Film Festival 2017
We Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later UK Netflix
New to UK Netflix this August 2017
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

You might like

  • Land of Mine film

    Land of Mine ★★★★★

  • Dunkirk film review

    Dunkirk film review ★★★★★

  • War for the Planet of the Apes film review [STAR:5]

    War for the Planet of the Apes film review ★★★★★

  • It Comes at Night – Joel Edgerton

    It Comes at Night film review ★★★★★

  • The Big Sick film trailer

    The Big Sick film review ★★★★★

  • Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer

    Spider-Man: Homecoming film review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×