No one could doubt Theron’s credentials following her turn as Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. If anyone is at the vanguard of empowered, female-driven action cinema, it’s surely her. If only she had more to feed on than Atomic Blonde’s empty calories.
It’s cool and brutal, but with such impressive action credentials you almost wish there were fewer plot devices to distract you as Charlize gets up and at ’em.
Without a doubt one of the greatest action stars of today, Atomic Blonde offers a spectacular platform to [Charlize Theron's] skills.
Theron is totally badass in a relentless thriller that never takes its foot off the gas. Bold and brash, with some of the year’s most bruising fight scenes.
Shamelessly smouldering from start to finish and letting its ladies have most of the fun, it's an ace actioner, in perfect tune with our age of disillusionment.
Theron carries it off with style of course, and there are loads of prurient shots of Theron, nude and bruised in a glitzy hotel room having a post-fisticuff ice bath. She could have done with a smarter and more literate script, like the one Diablo Cody gave her in Young Adult.
Atomic Blonde is all surface.
A film that feels true to its graphic novel roots but does little more than leave you feeling shaken, stirred and feeling there is no need for a sequel.
Charlize Theron excels as an action lead in this cold war spy story, adapted from graphic novel The Coldest City.