Atomic Blonde

Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Sofia Boutella, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Bill Skarsgard, Til Schweiger

Director: David Leitch

Set in 1989 in East Berlin, with the famous wall about to come down, this John Wick-style adventure features Theron as Lorraine, a lethal secret agent for Who Knows? - assigned by MI6 and the CIA to smuggle out a defecting scientist (Marsan) who's in possession of The List (no, don't ask).

Her contact is David Percival (McAvoy), who has sunk himself into East Berliner sub-cultire.

Right from the start, though, Lorraine is snatched by KGB agents at the airport, whom she dispatches with the (high) heel of her shoe (just as well she didn't wear anything more sensible), before entering into a torrid lesbian affair with a French agent (Boutella) and dodging numerous assassination attempts in her efforts to get Marsan out.

The film's framework is a post-story interrogation (de-briefing?) of Lorraine by Brit espionage chief Jones and CIA boss Goodman. Or are they? As usual, Lorraine trusts no one...

The plot is so confused even Einstein couldn't unravel it, while parts of it run like a Europudding spy thriller from the 1960s, if with much sharper action. Chances are you still won't know who was on whose side by the end, so hang your brains in the hall and concentrate on the fight scenes.

David Quinlan

Germany/Sweden/UK/USA 2017. UK Distributor: Universal. Colour.
108 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 3, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 15 Dec 2017

DVD review