Lorraine Broughton is on a special mission in Berlin and must use all of her lethal skills in order to survive, searching for a list which contains a list of names that must be retrieved before it gets out.
This film has had quite a lot of hype surrounding it in the build up to its release. I find that then with that it creates a big expectation and potential for disappointment. I went in with a pretty open mind and wasn’t fully sure what to expect from it.
I felt that the film opened very well at a very high tempo and showed a lot of potential in the opening scenes. With amazing use of an 80s soundtrack, unfortunately though that does not last past the first 20-30 minutes and the pace drops. Which creates some boredom, as the film loses itself during the middle and sets up a very weak final act with many twists and turns, all of which you would have guessed pretty early on.
I will slightly praise the performance from Charlize Theron as she really was very kick ass and well damn right sadistic as Lorraine Broughton. But maybe just that little bit too far, I don’t think the slight romance if you can call it that was enough to help redeem her or bring her to the “normal” level of being human. At times she did feel like a programmed robot, I am not entirely sure if that was the point or not?
We are told the story though an interview after she has returned from the ordeal in Berlin in a meeting at MI6 were they want to know the full story. So we do get slight breaks from the action scenes to see Toby Jones and John Goodman, both of which are as impressive as they normally are.
Lorraine’s contact in Berlin is David Percival who appears to have been seduces by the crazy life style and it is unclear if he is even still on anyone’s side. Weaving a very big web of lies it really is tricky to work out what his deal actually is, wondering if he is helping or hindering the ongoing missions.
The thing is always a positive about this genre of film has to be that you are never really sure which side the people are on, creating chaos and confusion throughout. In all honesty though I cannot really make my mind up if I enjoyed this film or not. It is a tricky one to try to nail down feelings for, as I felt that the middle was just too slow to really enjoy it. I better admit that I found myself nodding off in the cinema, but I was rather tired to begin with.
I did enjoy how much they made a point of Lorraine being blonde though, a lot of focus was really on that hair colour! Possibly because I am also blonde that I enjoyed that aspect of the film, come along way from that dumb blonde character we have been so used to in films!
Overall, a very mixed bag of film with some decent action sequences and a pretty amazing 80s soundtrack!
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