This is a movie that should have been a slam dunk. A couple big stars, some 80s nostalgia, based on a solid graphic novel, and a lot of high-octane action from a noted action director. So why did it end up with a lukewarm reception? In my opinion, it's going to be hard to pinpoint, because it wasn't any one thing. It had all the right parts, but couldn't get the alchemical magic going to rise above merely parts.
The setting is pretty awesome. It's in Berlin, during the week the Wall is coming down. The massive change in status quo is causing a lot of people to scramble. In particular, one Stasi officer is looking to defect before it's too late, and is offering a list of known intelligence officers, including proof of a very high ranking mole. The MI-6 officer in charge of West Berlin receives the list, and is promptly killed by a KGB agent to get it. Charlize Theron plays an MI-6 officer who must go in and retrieve the list. James McAvoy plays the MI-6 officer in charge of East Berlin, who has gone way off the reservation, and may or may not be the mole who is about to be exposed.
A lot of this is pretty standard spy fare. Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of the "list of agents" as a McGuffin. It's so overdone. But that's a minor quibble. The script plays the competing secrets and contrasting agendas very well through the first two acts. But it loses the pacing going into the third act. Everyone is playing their cards too close to their vest as the action kicks off for the audience to get a good feel for how the plotlines are actually interacting. Then at the end there is a dramatic flurry of revelations and reversals that leaves the audience more confused than complete (particularly with the last reveal). That kind of pacing is, of course, the real trick to differentiate a good spy story from a great one. This one falls well short of great, but still lands solidly in good.
The aesthetics of the movie were really well done. The sets and cinematography captured Berlin fantastically well (said by someone who has never actually been to Berlin, mind). There were a number of scenes framed in such a way that I could tell they were mimicking the graphic novel. In fact, there was a definite Zach Snyder feel to a lot of the movie, which I really hope Leitch can move away from in the future. And given Leitch's resume, the action was, of course, really solid. One interesting point there is that he chose to have his combatants actually get winded and tired pretty quickly. This is realistic, which was an odd choice when a lot of the other action was highly cinematic.
And, of course, you can't discuss the aesthetics without mentioning the soundtrack. OMG, I just listened to it this morning, and it is wonderful. Bowie, The Clash, Flock of Seagulls, and George Michael. The German version of 99 Luftballons, and the German version of Major Tom (which I'd never heard before). I loved that Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" became a recurring theme while agents were listening to their bugs. I'm not entirely sure where this movement in Hollywood to pay so much attention to the soundtrack came from (q.v., GotG, Baby Driver), but I'm loving it.
For a movie billed as "the female James Bond", we obviously have to address the feminist angle. Theron has solidly established herself as a kickass female action star with the role, whatever other flaws the movie may have. Sofia Boutella provides a really solid female foil, and the two have enough conversation to easily pass the Bechdel Test. I did have a few qualms with it, from a purely feminist angle. One, Theron was not particularly feminine. While Daniel Craig would have looked ridiculous in her outfits, he wouldn't have felt out of place saying her lines. Two, there was way too much time spent looking at Theron being sexy in little-to-no clothing. Fully half her character was nothing but a violent sex object. Three, and this is unfortunately a bit of a spoiler, but the lesbian encounter was thoroughly gratuitous. I will grant that it worked for the plot, but was clearly included as titillation. The way it was portrayed also made it clear that the only lesbians the director has interacted with have been in porn. It just felt obvious and tawdry, and certainly didn't help the running impression that her character was just a man reskinned to look good in a dress.
Conclusion time. I have to give it a solid "maybe". I enjoyed it, and would certainly stop to watch it when it pops up on FX or Spike. But I can already tell that it will fall into the wide swath of action movies that are largely interchangeable. If you are a Charlize Theron fan, it's certainly worth viewing, and there are only a couple scenes that are violent or gory enough to put most people off. It was fun to watch. I would love to have a super-spoilery discussion of it at some point, especially with my espionage RPG buddies. If you have a hankering for a gritty James Bond or can't stand to watch Cruise as Ethan Hunt, this is a perfectly good option. But I don't think it's really worth seeking out.
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