Atomic Blonde

In an action scene in Atomic Blonde, Charlize Theron, clad in black thigh-high boots, a mini skirt and lace stockings, kicks and punches bad guys with unrelenting ferocity. To escape the altercation she takes a rope, wraps one end around a thug (for leverage), and wraps the other end around herself as she jumps over the fifth-floor railing of a building before slamming her way to the ground.

The brutality of the scene, coupled with Theron’s fighting skills and beauty, form the core of Atomic Blonde, and as such make it richly entertaining. Theron is Lorraine, a British secret agent who’s sent to Berlin in November 1989 in the days before the Wall came down. Her mission is to rendezvous with an agent named David (James McAvoy) and recover a stolen list of undercover secret agents.

If the Russians get it, that’s bad news for the good guys. (It’s coincidence that the news cycle these days happens to be vaguely on topic, though this film certainly packs even more action into under two hours than one day in the news cycle about what the Americans knew about the Russians when.)

Most of the action is punctuated with ’80s pop tunes, and you haven’t lived until you’ve watched Theron busting heads to the German version of “Major Tom.” And boy, do heads get busted. And shot. Blood splatters on the camera. Household items like hot plates become weapons. The “R” rating for this film is well earned.

The action is brutal and fierce throughout, but the real highlight – and the reason people will speak fondly of Atomic Blonde for years to come – is the sequence inside an apartment complex about two-thirds of the way through the film.

In that sequence, Lorraine fights thugs on the stairwell, inside apartments, and later through the streets of Berlin. It was shot to look like one long take (meaning there are no obvious edits stringing the shots together), but it’s really some clever camera trickery that makes it seem like it was all shot at once. The long-take essence, however, allows the viewer to be immersed in the moment, which means you can almost feel all of those kicks and punches.

Speaking of which, in the summer of the awesome Wonder Woman putting a powerful woman front and center, Lorraine might just be the human Wonder Woman character we needed. For as superb as director David Leitch’s (John Wick) action is, the best thing about it is that it includes the exhaustion, blood and bruises that come with real fights. This means there are consequences to the fisticuffs, something many action movies lose sight of.

(Worth noting: That reality applies off-screen as well in this case. Theron cracked two teeth while training for the fight scenes, and had four root canals as a result.)

Kudos to Theron for learning the fight choreography and, more importantly, shepherding the project into existence. She bought the rights to the graphic novel on which the film is based, The Coldest City, upon its release in 2012. Since then, she’s worked diligently to make the movie a reality.

Theron’s Lorraine is a sexually confident, extremely intelligent and butt-kicking secret agent the likes of which we have rarely seen. It’s especially great because Lorraine isn’t objectified by skeezy men, though she use her sexuality as an asset, which makes it empowering.

Between Atomic Blonde and Wonder Woman, let’s hope the trend of strong lead female characters in action movies continues.

The only downside to Atomic Blonde is that it has too many characters, and the plot is more complex than it needs to be for an action flick. It comes together with clarity in the end, but the journey to get there could and should be smoother.

That’s a minor gripe. Ultimately, Atomic Blonde is a fun not-to-miss big-screen experience.

ATOMIC BLONDE (3) Directed by David Leitch • Starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman • Rated R • 115 min. • At Century Cinemas Del Monte, Century Marina, Maya Cinemas, Northridge Cinemas, Lighthouse Cinemas