Starring Charlize Theron, Sofia Boutella, James McAvoy, Toby Jones

Directed by David Leitch

Universal, out now

It’s back to the late 1980s as the the Berlin Wall is on the cusp of being torn down, a list has been stolen containing the details of undercover operatives and super spy Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is sent in to not only recover the top secret intel but also to flush out a double agent.

As one would expect from the director of the upcoming Deadpool 2 and co-director of John Wick, Atomic Blonde is an intense, brutal, two hours full of limb-snapping action. It would be easy to call this movie Joan Wick, lazily suggesting that this is just a case of switching genre and decade, and playing out the same old story, but that would be unfair. The period Cold War Germany setting immediately sets this movie apart from its Keanu Reeves forebears, a blistering 80s pop soundtrack of Depeche Mode, David Bowie and Nena firmly dragging us to the world of Checkpoint Charlie.

As she has previously proven as Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, Theron is an awesome action presence. We’ll forgive the wasted opportunity that was her villain in Fast and Furious 8 and instead be impressed by her lead role as a very physical agent who can handle herself in the field. The price to be paid for equality in the spy world is that none of Theron’s opponents pull their punches and it can be uncomfortable watching stronger opponents punch and kick away at her. Agent Broughton is no Wonder Woman and we see her knocking back the vodka and bathing in ice to dull the pain.

The Mummy‘s Sofia Boutella is on Broughton’s tail, James McAvoy is an English agent who clearly knows more than he’s letting on, and John Goodman is great fun as a CIA operative. The major plot points of recovering missing information and identifying the traitor are as old as the hills, but the labyrinthine plot cracks along at such a pace that you don’t dwell too long on the plot holes or over-reliance on impeccable timing and fortuitous coincidence.

It does feel that whenever they aren’t out in the street, Boutella and Theron are in their underwear (or less) and I’m not sure whether it’s titivation too far for something that on one level is professing to be gender neutral, though barely feminist. But this is a film of extremes – violent headshots, garrottings, death by skateboard – so maybe a bit of exploitation is just par for the course.

Verdict: Man from the ministry Toby Jones warns our heroine to trust no-one – very prescient words as it turns out. Theron’s English accent might make you wince as much as when she takes her beatings, but this is a confident slice of adult action spy-fi that’s as much John LeCarre as John Wick.  8/10

Nick Joy