Bright cool cranberry
Joining the wave of stylishly pretentious action films, "Atomic Blonde" tries to grab the ears and wring the necks of all the hares at once, from espionage ones to heroic-feminist ones (of course, purely from a cinematic point of view). Plus, the film continues the trend of “Hollywood stars are back in the saddle” ("Hostage", "Jack Reacher", "Gunman", "The Great Equalizer", "RED" and others).
Taking on board the achievements of the past and some of the developments of the present, “Blonde” thus becomes a direct female response "John Wick" and a competitor (and perhaps an ally) of the South Korean "Villains", starting from the nature of pretentiousness, color scheme, locations and approach to action, to the next appearance Daniel Bernhardt, which, like wine, gets better with age. Suffering from a shortage of sane projects in his youth and the desire of everyone to mold him into a clone of Van Damme, Daniel finally received rehabilitation from fate and, although he has minor villainous roles, is in decent projects, despite the fact that he is already approaching retirement age. Better late than never.
“Blonde,” like the above-mentioned references, is primarily based on its visuals. The picture, locations, costumes, titles and music are a kind of synthwave against the backdrop of the Cold War, although for some reason the associations came in the form of a film "Red Trail" Tibor Takács, the one with Hauer и Dacascas. Yes, and "Wick" I was mentioned for a reason - the director of “Blonde” David Leitch was co-director of the first Wick and executive producer of the second. So, while the funnel is still warm, you can launch another projectile into it.
The plot of the film is confusing, twisted, although not complicated, but a large number of characters and cross-lines will confuse the viewer and at times give a reason to get bored. The spy passions in gloomy Berlin are action-packed, but not very addictive. This is the main problem of “Blonde” - the lack of nerve, tension, empathy and plot adrenaline. It seems that the problems are far-fetched, the escalation of the stop is not always appropriate, and the pretentiousness of the dialogues is unnecessary, even considering that we are watching a frivolous and exaggerated film-scheme. The entire royal army is looking for this notorious list of agents, but the viewer will not perceive the importance of this goal until the end of the film. Double agent Satchel? Well, to hell with him. Mixed, but not stirred.
All efforts are thrown into sweeping casting, fights and shootouts, pink letters, neon clubs, cold Berlin streets and bearded Russians. Well, of course, on Charlize Theron (not to be confused with testosterone, which she has in excess, and yours will rise too).
People swarm around the blond heroine in leather boots McAvoy, Goodman, Marsan, Jones, young Skarsgaard, five minutes Hargrave, one and a half minutes Schweiger и Sofia Boutella. They swarm and fuss, and the heroine walks around with a cold face and long legs, beats up agents and police officers, swims in an ice bath, smokes a lot, changes outfits, but, unfortunately, very rarely plays, although Charlize is not an empty actress and, when necessary, can give out. Another thing is that in “Blonde” she has nothing special to play, so she is limited to fights and fashion shows. James McAvoy, whose screen time is second only to Theron, plays more often, although monotonously, and looks very much like a stoned pimp that begs for dialogue: Who are you? - McAvoy in a coat!
There’s not much to say about the other participants, except that the whole film is a benefit performance of mustachioed men, among whom a couple of clean-shaven ones happened to be mixed in.
But does such material require any outstanding acting? The question has remained open since the first Wick.
Now let's talk about the action for which the team was responsible 87eleven. There is a lot of it, it is well spread out in terms of timing, although it is not outstanding in terms of the inventiveness of the fight choreography or the sophistication of the shootouts. However, there are advantages here, and they are in the camera work and editing. Very long takes, clear and interesting angles, skillful cuts and transitions, correct work with space, attention to detail. Of course, Theron’s inexperience in on-screen battles is striking, but in bed she looks more confident. She noticeably takes care of her fingers, her blows are not always dense and have insufficient amplitude, and where they are amplitude, she herself staggers a little. It is clear that the damage from her blows is often faked (special thanks to the fake electric stove), and the extras sometimes wait and play along. But despite this, she did a gigantic job. She tries and gives her all, you can see tricks and cruel falls without doubles. In the central fight on the stairs, which without editing cuts into the fight in the apartment against Bernhardt, there is scope and destruction, honest acting out of emotions and genuine fatigue. In short, everything is at a decent level, although quite standard in terms of choreography. But Theron, in this sense, has much fewer complaints than Reeves. And her heroine as a whole is more human-like than the killer Baba Yaga played by Keanu.
In shootouts it’s the same – there’s fluidity and long takes, flying feathers and a bit of aesthetics John Woo. There is even symbolic blood and brains on the lips of the woman depicted in the wall painting. In general, there is something to catch the eye.
"Explosive Blonde" - The film is uneven, but beautiful. It lacks humor, although the picture looks much lighter than Wick, because the style is consistent from the first minutes to the very end. Sometimes fragments of sad mothball bad manners from the series: “everyone around you is dying” flash, but not often. Charlize Theron's role would be hard to call a good acting job, but she brings out a lot with her energy and on-screen charisma.
ZY: Special thanks for Vysotsky and Mercury in the soundtrack.
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Tags: 87eleven, Atomic Blonde, James McAvoy, John Goodman, David Leitch, Daniel Bernhard, Charlize Theron
Tags: 87eleven, Atomic Blonde, James McAvoy, John Goodman, David Leitch, Daniel Bernhard, Charlize Theron
I watched “Blonde” the other day and was very pleased. What can I say, not a movie, but a piece of candy! Everything is so stylish and cool done. Music, pictures, action scenes... the fight on the stairs, smoothly turning into a fight in the apartment and the subsequent chase - this is the most relish of the film. All these falls, blows, blood and shootouts in the style of "John Wick" (the handwriting of the same stunt group is visible) are very juicily done. And, yes! I'm glad that there is more Bernhardt here than in the first "Wick". Of course, it will be difficult to delve into the plot and understand all the details the first time you watch it, but I wouldn’t say that this is a big minus. Judging by the feelings and emotions received while watching, the film definitely deserves a very high rating. Cool, in a word!
“But Theron, in this sense, has much fewer complaints than Reeves. And her character as a whole is more like a person than the killer Baba Yaga played by Keanu.”
“It lacks humor, although the picture looks much lighter than Wick, because the style is consistent from the first minutes to the very end.”
Of course, I understand that Ravenside didn’t like Wick, but I can’t remain silent. I don’t agree: the heroine looks not like a living person, but like a robot (the cyborg from the last Aliens showed more emotions), and the film looks boring, unlike Wick, even the second one. In short, the film didn't work for me. I just wanted to say according to Stanislavsky I DON’T BELIEVE IT! Yes, Theron looks much more convincing than Jolie in the role of a special agent, but it’s hard to take down 100-kilogram men in batches, with bare hands and sweeps. And okay, the men would just be “from the street”, but here they are trained fighters! And the plot... One excuse - it's a film based on a comic book, so you need to turn off your brain right away)
“Blonde” was shot very beautifully and stylishly. This is her greatest asset. It is implied that the other advantages are less.
For some reason, from the moment news about the film appeared, I was expecting a reckless and reckless black-humored action movie, if not in the style of “Kingsman,” then at least in the style of “The Agents of U.N.C.L.E.” Perhaps the trailer, in which a blonde jumps out of a window a la Danny Trejo in Machete, is to blame for this. So when I finally watched the movie, I was a little disappointed. The reviews were also entirely laudatory, setting me up for a high standard. In general, my opinion: the film is good, but not great.
The blonde is good. Not as good as Weeki, but still. I really like that these films are made by fans of their craft. The action is presented very coolly and stylishly. In fact, these are ordinary action films, but the presentation of the material from these guys is great.
The plot is an ordinary comic book, as it should be in the film adaptation of this very comic book. And then at least thank you for some kind of intrigue. True, the plot twist was not very successful, in my opinion - and so everything was quite clear regarding this “double agent”.
Stars of Destiny 3^ Paradox online with translation
Dmitry Padalko, thanks for the news!
And according to the subject, I didn’t like the word finally. And to hell with them, with the cables, but the indistinct shaky camera with unreadable angles and terrible editing kills all the good that there is still in the fights in the film.
Well, the film itself is a standard faceless action movie. If there is no fighting cast, then there is nothing to watch in the film.
In support of a 43-year-old woman, a two-time Oscar nominee, whose past has nothing to do with martial arts and MMA))). She's a great guy for deciding to do this comic book adaptation (she's the film's producer) and a real actress. We don’t judge Donnie Yen by the standards of Robert Redford or Al Pacino, and Theron probably shouldn’t be presented with her “staggering” in fight scenes, she’s not Corano or Rothrock. What am I talking about? The movie is good, but the fact that the comic is confusing in terms of the storyline is not that important. More importantly, the following films of this style can be compared with such a film and this is a worthy starting point)).
With gunfights or gunfights, probably. Typo.
Yes, I saw the film in the cinema and was completely delighted. And the music was great, and the style, and the beatings, and Bernhard was wildly pleasing, and the beating with a skateboard to a good song from the series Clinic is simply magical *__*
But I didn’t understand the plot at all. Who is who's brother, matchmaker, triple agent, quintuple agent. But for me the film became a set of stylish action clips, and in this quality it is very good. As I understand it, we know which version has been released, it will be necessary to review it. Thanks for the text.
Denis Letov,
Alas, the plot is really the weakest point of the film; they maneuvered and maneuvered, but did not manage to do so.