Lisa Franek
  • Home
  • Books
  • My Films
  • Contact
  • Imagination Blog
  • SignUp

Movie Discussion: Atomic Blonde

9/6/2017

4 Comments

 
Picture
Disclaimer: This is not going to be a review. The following post assumes you have seen the movie, so don’t read it if you don’t want spoilers. I guarantee nothing except for (hopefully) some food for thought, and hope for a little discussion about the film between lovers of the form. As you were…

Also, this one has some foul language in it. Don't say I didn't warn you.


So I saw this one a few weeks back, and thought I'd discuss it, now that people have had a chance to see it. I'll just say up front that I'm a fan of Charlize Theron, so that's a plus. I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, because when I saw the first trailer for it, I wasn't impressed. It was a lot of fighting, a lot of shots ogling Theron, and of course, the scintillating shots of her and Sofia Boutelis making out with plenty of tongue. Great, I thought. Another flick that pretends to be about 'female empowerment', but is actually. just another opportunity for dudes to eye-fuck hot women for two hours and call themselves feminists because they sat through a whole movie (gasp!) that has a woman as its main character. Great.

Then I saw a second trailer, and it looked much better, so I had some hope for the film, but still had reservations. In the end, I would say that the film isn't exactly the picture of female empowerment that I've enjoyed from other films, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. Theron's character is smart, savvy, and can definitely beat the shit out of a person using whatever blunt or sharp objects are at her disposal. The film also had a snappy soundtrack of music that was refreshing and fun, and took me back to my younger years, listening to the radio in our beat up old Datsun B-210 on the way to gymnastics practice. 

But I think what struck me most about this movie was that it is the first time I've seen a movie based on a graphic novel where I could actually picture it as a graphic novel. Between the neon colors bouncing off her black and white wardrobe, and the concise dialogue, I could practically see the frames on each page and the word bubbles above their heads. The story wasn't particularly surprising, and the twists were fairly predictable, but I don't worry about things like that. As long as we get there in a fun and interesting way, it doesn't matter if I figured it out. Stories don't need to be some sleuthing assignment. Just something well told. And all in all, I'd say this was well told.

​What did you think of her character? Did this feel like female empowerment to you? How about a film noir in full, fluorescent 1980's color?

Other films for companion viewing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Monster, The Warriors (Director's Cut), The Lives of Others, The Third Man, The Long Kiss Goodnight 


4 Comments
Joseph Best link
10/9/2022 02:26:32 am

Fish keep program quality car nothing clearly music. Simple order tonight pick peace husband guess.

Reply
Gregory Carr link
10/16/2022 08:49:07 am

Either these minute nearly. Middle debate edge number involve.
Sit contain decide fly. Project join magazine meeting report network.

Reply
Jeffrey Glover link
10/17/2022 08:14:22 pm

Source door us wait. Assume politics system lawyer watch police. Exist community avoid opportunity include put spend.
Away far result pull property model.

Reply
Caleb Santiago DVM link
10/27/2022 11:26:02 pm

Leg nice everyone. Check attention environment. Authority summer fund.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Follow @lisafranek

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    January 2014
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Acting
    Actors
    Advice
    Americans For The Arts
    Anthony Sartino
    Architecture
    Art
    Art Benefits
    Artist
    Arts
    Arts Education
    Asian Film
    Auditions
    Award
    Birch North Park Theater
    Bullet Catch
    California
    Cannes Film Festival
    Casting
    Chung Ling Soo
    Cinematography
    Cinephile
    Colorado
    Comic-con
    Community
    Competition
    Costumes
    Craft Beer
    Creativity
    Crew
    Critique
    Culture
    Curating
    Day 1
    Donating
    Downtown
    Education
    Encinitas
    Exhibition
    Facebook
    Fake Fur
    Feedback
    Festival
    Film
    Film Geeks
    Filming
    Filmmaker
    Film Shoot
    Fiscal Sponsorship
    Friends
    Funding
    Fundraising
    Georges Melies
    Goals
    Grants
    Habits
    Hats
    History
    Houdini
    Howard Thurston
    Improv
    Installation
    Jerry Sanders
    Jim Steinmeyer
    Jose Yenque
    Kickstarter
    La Film Fest
    La Paloma
    Larissa Garcia
    Lizet Benrey
    Location
    Location Scouting
    Los Angeles
    Magic
    Magic Castle
    Magician
    Magicians
    Magic Store
    Marketing
    Media Arts Center San Diego
    Mfa
    Middle East
    Millinery
    Movie Palace
    Museum Of Jurassic Technology
    Music
    North Carolina
    Once Upon A Rooftop
    Opinions
    Oscar
    Outliers
    Painting
    Persia
    Photography
    Posters
    Post-production
    Pr
    Pre-production
    Press Kit
    Producer
    Progress
    Promotion
    Rehearsal
    Rehearsals
    Research
    Rob Marshall
    San Diego
    Script
    Sergio Ulloa
    Sewing
    Sharing
    Shooting
    Skirball Community Center
    Sony
    Sports
    Studio
    Sybil Wendler
    Synopsis
    Talent
    Tax-deduction
    Tenacious
    Theater
    The Magicians
    Tv
    Twitter
    U2
    Veronica Mars
    Visuals
    Writing
    Youth
    Youtube
    Zach Braff

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from GotCredit, Thomas Leth-Olsen, Celestine Chua, Found Animals, procsilas, numberstumper, George Vnoucek, Leyram Odacrem, One Way Stock, hardi_wb, Rennett Stowe, quinet, rashanahb, rich701, mayrpamintuan, Gavin St. Ours, Aimee Custis, ilovememphis, ikewinski, Môsieur J. [version 8.0], Darwin Bell, Ack Ook