Atomic Blonde (4½ Stars)

This is one of the best films of the summer, despite a few small complaints I have about it. Every time I saw the trailer in the last few weeks I grew more excited. I've long considered Charlize Theron to be one of the most beautiful actresses alive today, and seeing her as a kicking, punching, shooting action heroine blew me away. When I found out that the director is David Leitch, who also made "John Wick", I was even more excited. I knew I could expect a feast of over-the-top action.

I'll say straight away that there's less action than in "John Wick", if you count the total minutes, but the action that does take place is just as spectacular. John Wick relies mostly on his guns, but Lorraine Broughton, the heroine of "Atomic Blonde", spends more time fighting with her bare hands. It's a joy to watch her in action. Sitting in the cinema this evening I gasped on more than one occasion. I hope that didn't disturb the man sitting next to me.

Lorraine (Charlize Theron) is an English spy who's sent to Berlin in November 1989 to retrieve a stolen microfilm that contains the names of every double agent operating in Berlin. The city is in a state of chaos, because protesters are demanding that the Berlin Wall be torn down, which does actually happen at the end of the film. Lorraine's contact person is David Percival (James McAvoy), who has been working undercover in the city for 10 years. The action takes place on both sides of the Wall.

David considers himself to be a ladies' man, but he has no success with Lorraine. The only person she's attracted to is Delphine Lasalle, a young, inexperienced French spy.

The film's music is excellent. It's a well-picked selection of 1980's hits. I was tapping my feet when my favourite songs began to play.

Rather than just be a clone of "John Wick" there are elements of mystery interwoven with the action. The plot twists are skilfully built in, and were totally unexpected when they came.

Now to my criticism, which I admit is just a personal issue for me. Everyone is smoking cigarettes. In other films there might be an occasional scene where a character is smoking, but in "Atomic Blonde" the first thing the characters do when there's no fight going on is light up. Every time. As a life-long non-smoker this disturbs me. It surely wasn't necessary to exaggerate the smoking so much. If nobody had smoked at all the audience wouldn't have noticed.

One smaller problem for me is the film's structure: it begins with a debriefing when Lorraine is back in England, in which she tells her superiors what she did in Berlin. For me this takes the edge off the suspense. I can't be afraid that Lorraine will die, because the film has already told me she will return home.

Critics have highly praised this film. This time they've got it right.