Atomic Blonde is an absolutely fantastic movie. It’s got the action, its got the spy thriller, its got the controversy, its got the amazing acting performances, and its got style. Quite literally this movie has all the things I want and need in a spy thriller. This movie feels like it was polish and honed to the perfect edge.

I’ll be honest when I first started watching it I hated it, but that was mainly because my cat bumped the language and subtitle buttons and it was in Portuguese. I was so confused why Russians were speaking Portuguese haha. The story took a minute to get into, the exposition really was throwing me for a loop. I couldn’t quite figure out what or who we were seeing, luckily it’s like most movies; it explains stuff later on if you pay attention. There was a lot of movie parts in this movie. It showed the audience all of them so well, the environment story telling where there is no dialogue was perfect. The fight scenes, beautiful. The visuals varied from dark to vibrant, it had a very gritty feel to it throughout. Consistent film making made every scene look and feel perfect. I really can’t not emphasize how good this movie is. I love spy movies, the cheesy ones have their place but I prefer the not cheesy ones. This was not a cheesy film. It was dark and sometimes wild, it felt like the bond film Casino Royal. But unlike Casino Royal, it felt like the side conflicts were moving with their own momentum. The side stories and supporting characters all add so much to the universe built by the movie.

It’s run time is longer than I expected, if I am being honest there were points where I thought the movie was going to end. But it didn’t. The film just kept going on and on, I like that, but it felt like it was overly drawn out. You could probably split this film into two different films if you wanted. It’s jam packed with content throughout the entire film, like because it has so much content the length and content makes it feel overwhelming. It is extremely high quality content, there’s just so much of it. So like the Lord of the Rings movies have high quality content and length. But they also have those scenes where everyone’s hanging out and eating and stuff interspersed throughout the movies. Lord of the Rings has break points, they let your brain slow down for a moment. Atomic Blonde has some tiny break points, but really it doesn’t feel like it. While watching that film I feel like I am doing mental gymnastics at the Olympics and the break point is right after I’ve just done a big lengthy routine.

So I touched briefly on the visuals, but oh my gosh I have to nerd out about it just so much more. The transitions in this movie, the Cold War feel, and the designs are so cool and unique. There is no point in the film where I feel like I have seen it before. It feels original and authentic. I can not give this film enough praise. It has so much going for it, its story driven like its a super car in a race. It is by far a must see.

I don’t know if there’s anything else to say. The only things I want to talk about about this film have been said and I don’t feel like beating a dead horse for another few paragraphs. I recommend this film to anyone, be careful because it is gritty.

5/5

-Ben