Atomic Blonde
Yes, I claim Atomic Blonde—the Cold War spy thriller with pure Sapphic goodness built in—as speculative fiction. Why? Because there’s a mystical quality to it, like these spies are superhuman and their settings are fantastical (ala John Wick, which I also claim for the Urban Fantasy genre), even if they don’t have super powers.
Also, let’s talk about how Charlize Theron has carved a third successful career (after her well-proven dramatic and comedy chops) playing some of the most bad-ass female action characters that have ever emerged. List off the projects—The Old Guard 1&2, Mad Max Fury Road, Aeon Flux, Fate X, The Boys, Snow White and the Huntsman, Prometheus, The Italian Job—even in crap things she’s usually the best actor in it.
I mean, the woman who would hands-down be the best possible first female 007 throwing that “for Queen and country” crap out and playing a scrappy, cool Mi6 agent who lives and dies by her own rules? Come and get me. Even without Charlize Theron this film would be interesting, but with her, it’s iconic. Lesbian films are usually so dramatic, or cosy, or emotional. As much as I love many of those films, this intense, violent, sexy film is a relief and a revelation. Not since Bound have we seen anything like it.
It has a madhouse plot, but Theron brings depth to what could otherwise have been just another bland, violent spy movie. Her every look is a hint, or a red herring. Nothing is accidental, even if she’s never supposed to have much real emotional depth (I mean, John Wick’s entire thing was “they killed my dog”! Here they killed her ex-lover, it doesn’t take much.)
Theron plays British spy Lorraine Broughton, who is in Berlin in the 80’s on the brink of the Berlin wall coming down to locate a list identifying undercover operatives. (Seriously? Stop making goddamn lists of undercover agents people! A ring, a watch, whatever, just stop.) Hundreds of lives are on the line, and she is the only girl for the job.
The film takes the form of an after-action interrogation. Lorraine relives the plot and explains her version of it to Mi6 and one shonky CIA boss. She is pure sass, and even bloodied and bruised her poise is impeccable. Is any of what she says true? Hard to say. They, and we, don’t know what to believe. She’s both the most trustworthy and unreliable of narrators.
While Lorraine mostly seems in control, there are moments we’re sure she’s losing it just that little bit, but later we realise we, and her prey, were just meant to think that. Even her dalliance with French spy Delfine (Sofia Boutella) at first seems instinctive, a rare misstep in the normally business-as-usual routine.
I like to think perhaps at first it was a sidestep into lust, but Lorraine figures out a way to use it to her advantage. It’s hot as hell, Theron and Boutella give it everything, and having Lorraine be queer just adds a whole other unexpected way in to the character for all us starving sapphics out here.
One of the most amazing things about Lorraine is that she’s never surprised by betrayal. She expects it, which is both a handy survival skill and a sad condition. She handles double and triple crosses with aplomb, always instinctive, but never reactive.
Based on a comic book by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart, and brought to life by David Leitch who was a stunt director AND co-director of John Wick, Atomic Blonde is both ice cold and fiery red, and cinematographer Jonathan Sela makes sure we know this throughout as he employs both color schemes to reflect the inner and outer worlds of Lorraine.
The city and era is like another character. Berlin is dirty, evocative, sexy, industrial, alive, anxious, and violent. Also, let’s not forget the pumping new wave soundtrack, it’s note perfect, and comes out of headphones, boomboxes, DJ booths—so important it’s like oxygen.
Atomic Blonde is that rare and wonderful thing in an action movie, where a woman gets to use what makes her uniquely female and take advantage of the things that make her enemies male, in order to get the job done. It wouldn’t have worked if it felt like they were just writing an action flick and replacing the man with a woman. This character needs to move, breathe, and think like a woman to win. It’s her femininity that gives her the edge.
Between Theron’s sweet moves, that thumping soundtrack, the hot woman-on-woman action, and the twist in the tail you don’t see coming, this is a film that deserved more critical heat than it got. If you’re into spy-movie or comic-book superhero action, do not let this phenomenal film pass you by. It’s not deep, but on a pure entertainment level it’s fulfilling as hell.
I dream of what something like this could have been with David Leitch doing the stunts and a Kathryn Bigelow-like skillset at the helm. Oof. Just imagine? And just in case anyone is confused where Charlize Theron stands on her allyship:
