Charlize Theron completely owns Atomic Blonde

STYLISH, pulsating and visually vivid, Charlize Theron’s latest film sees her kick more arse than ever before.

THERE’S no doubt about it. Charlize Theron is a bad-arse action hero.

The actor had already proved her chops in Mad Max: Fury Road and now kicks, punches and broods her way through Atomic Blonde in a way that just makes you bow down in awe, and vow to never, ever cross Charlize. You may not live to tweet about it.

A pulsing spy thriller with sex, excellent music and bucketloads of riveting action, Atomic Blonde owes its success to Theron’s ability to carry off the role of take-no-prisoners MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton with such confidence and style.

Otherwise, its biggest problem — the plot — would be all too apparent. So thank god it’s so visually vivid, sounds amazing and has a seductive energy.

After an agent is murdered in Berlin trying to retrieve a microfilm containing the names and alias of allied spies, Lorraine is dispatched by MI6 to Germany. The Brits have an extra incentive to get their hands on the list as it’s said to reveal the identity of a double agent who’s secretly working for the Soviets.

Arriving in Berlin, she’s immediately “made” by the Soviets and has to “partner” up with the MI6 Berlin chief, Percival (James McAvoy) who’s been running amok and off-book — someone describes him as having “gone native”.

The complicated mission involves taking down KGB operatives, making steamy contact with a French operative (Sofia Boutella) and extracting a Soviet turncoat from West Berlin.

These kids are dressed like the coolest people you could ever hope to meet. (Jonathan Prime/Focus Features via AP)

The spy list is the MacGuffiniest of all MacGuffins, an excuse to set the whole story in motion because Atomic Blonde is really about a feeling. It tries to capture the chaos and confusion of the last days of the Berlin Wall while teasing the underground youth counterculture of resistance and creativity that sprung up under oppressive Soviet rule.

Much of that credit also has to go to cinematographer Jonathan Sela whose lensing and dramatic use of blues and neon evokes that playful spirit.

These types of spy thrillers are a bit of a throwback and setting this story at the cusp of a new era, of technological modernity where spycraft is more about computers and digital surveillance, gives it a sense of nostalgia that Bond or Bourne could never achieve now.

That it’s a woman fiercely fighting her way through a throng of musclebound bad guys is undeniably refreshing. Theron, who did the majority of the stunts herself, owns these scenes and dominates the frame, throwing her body in every direction, landing the punch or resourcefully using whatever is around to pummel everyone.

The incredible action sequences are thanks to director David Leitch who has worked as a stuntman on numerous films including Fight Club, The Wolverine and the Bourne Legacy. He made his directorial debut with John Wick, the action-packed Keanu Reeves vengeance machine. So yeah, Leitch has cred. It will be interesting to see what he bring to Deadpool 2.

A particularly brutal and vicious minutes-long sequence in which Lorraine takes down a dozen men on a flight of stairs looks like it’s one continuous shot but is actually cleverly cut to hide the edits. But the effect is mesmerising, right down to the obvious exhaustion coursing through the actors’ limbs. Not only does Theron kicks arse, she lets her arse get kicked too.

Charlize Theron did more than 90 per cent of her own stunts. (Jonathan Prime/Focus Features via AP)

There’s no talking about Atomic Blonde without giving a shout-out to its soundtrack. Composed by Tyler Bates, who also did the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, the electric score pumps through the film. But more than that are the song choices. Prepare to download the soundtrack as soon as you walk out of the cinema — don’t fight it, it’s an inevitability.

From Queen and New Order to Depeche Mode and A Flock of Seagulls, it’s a cornucopia of big, bold 80s classics. More importantly, the songs add another layer to the scenes, such as when protest anthem “99 Luftballoons” is played ironically over the top of an official bashing a punk kid’s head in, or Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” kicking in right at the end.

So it is a shame the story of Atomic Blonde is what lets it down because it could’ve been a near-perfect movie. Spy pictures are always hard to keep straight but this plot has more holes than Jarlsberg cheese. It’s unnecessarily confusing and some of the characterisation is befuddled too.

There’s a glaring question you might find yourself asking at the movie’s end — we won’t ask it here because of spoilers — that a cop-out twist doesn’t quite answer.

But if you can overlook the story problems or the copious product placement for Stoli vodka, there is so much to love in Atomic Blonde.

Rating: 3.5/5

Atomic Blonde is in cinemas from today.

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