75% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 175 reviews)
Runtime: 115 minutes
Directed by: David Leitch
Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones, James Faulkner
From: Many different production companies
I finally saw this movie; unlike with plenty of people, this was something I rate highly. I explain why below:
I've been interested in this movie for awhile now; the mixed/disappointed reviews meant I put this on the backburner until yesterday afternoon. It had plenty of elements that sounded appealing to me so I was definitely hoping I would not be let down. Thankfully, I was not, although I certainly understand why many people had problems with this.
Even I can admit that it's more about the 80's aesthetic, the Berlin setting of late 1989 (right before The Berlin Wall fell), the great soundtrack-even if some of those tunes are overplayed in pop culture and I presume they couldn't get the rights to the Blondie song Atomic as that would be a natural-and the incredible fight scenes than the spy plot where Charlize Theron has to deal with such people as Toby Jones, John Goodman and James McAvoy as she is looking for what was basically the NOC list from the first Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie; it's a list of field agents currently active and naturally a lot of different organizations and people would want to have such a list.
Early on, I knew the movie would be for me. I had heard beforehand some of the songs that would be in the film, which was fine as in general I wasn't surprised by their usage. Well, one of them begins and I was really hoping something stupendous would happen when the song hit a crescendo... and it did, and I was quite happy. I enjoyed much of the 80's songs, the score from Tyler Bates and even the synthwave that is heard occasionally. The Cold War setting was interesting and you get to see how drastically different West Berlin and East Berlin were; you wouldn't want to live behind the Iron Curtain in general, especially if you want to enjoy some of the ways of the decadent West.
As I am a nerd I dug seeing all the old cars, from a Porsche 911 to all the Lada automobiles that were the vehicle of choice for those in Commie countries. It's based on a graphic novel I have no knowledge of but I presume that was also as colorful as it could be in a world dominated by a grey color scheme; Charlize's hotel room randomly is lit in neon colors, because why not? I understand the graphic novel did not have a lesbian subplot, but at least Sofia Boutella did well in her role. All that said, it's the amazing action that makes the film stand out.
Like in the John Wick movies (no surprise, as one of the guys responsible for that directed this) there are brutal R-rated action scenes which are shot well and it is not difficult to figure out what's going on. I greatly enjoyed seeing that, especially the one that everyone loves the best, which involves a stairwell and several thugs. That was shot to appear at as a one take scene; I could see how cuts were masked but that doesn't make it any less impressive as the illusion was never broken and plus, what happened in that scene was brutal. It was moments like this which for me did excuse how the spy story isn't the best by any means.
I do comprehend how this movie would work for me because it pushed enough of my buttons, or why people would disagree with me liking this picture's story more than the plot of John Wick: Chapter 2. I am just glad I did not felt let down by this. To paraphrase the online critic Outlaw Vern, where else will you see an Oscar winner fight the star of the Bloodsport sequels (Daniel Bernhardt) and the backdrop is a screening of a highly regarded foreign film with a great rating on Letterboxd?
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