Cold War Cliches..."Atomic Blonde"

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Rated R

Starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, John Goodman, Toby Jones, Roland Moller

Directed by David Leitch

The Story:

Agent Broughton (Theron) is the best in the business, and that business is spying. It's the height of the Cold War, and a list of double agents has gone missing, and she must travel to Berlin to retrieve it before it falls into the wrong hands. Naturally, she shouldn't trust anyone...

How do you make an 80s action thriller spy movie for a 21st century audience?

You turn James Bond into Jane Bond, and set the screen ablaze with something the audience hasn't seen before.

Except the whole list of double agents things was played out long before the 90s even ended, so it seems all so familiar, no matter how much action and great soundtrack they attach to it.

Or maybe I'm jaded because it was as good as the trailer indicated, but didn't rise to be any better than that.

Can I really blame a movie for simply repeating what has come before, 100s of times? It's not their fault the audience has seen them all already, so it's hard to reinvent the genre.

Theron makes a great action star, and I won't lie and say I won't be back again if there's a sequel.

Hopefully, there will simply be a bit more to the story to really stand out and make it a must see affair the next time around.

Final Grade: C+

A Murder Most 'Meh'... "A Kind Of Murder"

A Kind of Murder (2016)

Rated R

Starring Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Hayley Bennett, Eddie Marsan, Vincent Kartheiser

Directed by Andy Goddard

The Story:

Walter (Wilson) is a successful architect by day and budding detective novelist by night. His wife Clara (Biel) is unsupportive at best, and things just aren't right between them. Walter longs to be with Ellie (Bennett) instead. However Walter's obsession with a seemingly perfect unsolved murder may prove to be his very undoing.

Welcome to a throwback noir thriller set in 1960s New York.

The production values are stellar as it looks and feels as if the film and everything in it is straight from a bygone era.

The problem comes about from the story itself.

The perfect murder in question is pretty much just that, perfect.

You have the weaselly suspect (Marsan) and the overeager detective (Kartheiser) and these characters will go about making Walter's life unbearable.

But that's just it, it almost is unbearable.

His fascination with what could have happened makes him the suspect when his own wife is murdered, and naturally he lies and then lies some more.

The book upon which this is based is titled The Blunderer.

You'll feel like that is a very apt title the longer you watch the film.

Watchable, but in the end, rather unsatisfying.

Final Grade: C-