Atomic Blonde (2017)

Written by GenerationofSwine on January 14, 2023

It SHOULD have been good. It is a spy movie with a basic spy movie plot. It promises double crosses and intrigue.

But it never really delivers on the suspense and tension that are the principle trope of good spy movies...and it never really delivers on the empty mindless popcorn stuffing atmosphere that are the basic tropes of action movies.

So in the end you're left with a movie that isn't tense and suspenseful enough to be "3 Days of the Condor" or "The Americans" and a movie that isn't as mindless action packed fun as James Bond.

All the elements were there, but they never seemed to pull them off. It's like that old Native American saying, "if you chase two rabbits you'll lose them both." And that's really what happened here. it tried to be two different kinds of spy movie in one and never really made it into either.

You're left wondering why you bothered. Had they picked one and went whole headlong for that goal, it could have been stellar. Instead it's luke warm at best.