'Atomic Blonde' is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again and it just doesn't lose its impact. When I saw the movie for the first time I had no expectations and I was more than convinced. Since then it is one of my favorite movies and that although it is certainly not a masterpiece.
In the intro, you already get a foretaste of the direction the movie is going to take, which is then consistently followed through. The movie doesn't lose its pace over the entire runtime. There is no real hole.
The entire atmosphere feels incredibly authentic. The whole thing is underpinned by a really stylish, cool and coherent soundtrack, which strongly underpins the images shown.
The only point of criticism is the plot. It seems a bit confused and essentially serves to explain why a character gets from A to B. The story isn't really complicated, but you still think to yourself at some points, just accept it and don't question it.
But you can turn a blind eye to that, because the actual plot is in the background for me here. The overall look and feel paired with the really strong fight choreography let you quickly overlook it.
And that brings us to the crucial point. The movie has incredibly strong fight scenes. The camera is close up throughout and all the fights look handmade. That's what I want to see and not cut-up action where you can't see anything or which is just bristling with GCI. Some action movies can take a leaf out of this book. Showing and not hinting is the motto here. One of the best scenes of the whole movie is a several minutes long plan sequence in a house. I find this impressive every time. In these moments, the movie reminds me of a reduced, well dosed John Wick, only the setting and the framework story appeals more to me personally.
All in all, 'Atomic Blonde' is a solid agent thriller, which can more than convince with its atmosphere, look and fight scenes. In terms of plot, familiar structures, motifs and sequences are used. If you can overlook that, then you can really have fun with the movie.
