Kate

Netflix is at it again with another algorithm driven "mashup". This movie pulls from: La Femme Nikita, Atomic Blonde, Kill Bill and Crank (among others), but, thanks to slick production and solid acting from Mary Elizabeth Winstead it WORKS MUCH BETTER than I expected. The high contrast, rain-slick neon streets of Osaka and Tokyo are on full display here and the pacing is fast, with just enough back-story to bring the characters to life in a way that was engaging. A couple things of note:

1) The action is more similar to Atomic Blonde in that our female anti-hero is up against an army of dudes, and, instead of some easy one-punch win (a-la Kill Bill) she employs all manner of environmental tools and favors speed over strength. While hyper action movies are always on the low-end of believable - the no-nonsense violence and savagery (and creativity) of the weapons / tools she uses seemed accurate for the character.

2) Mary Elizabeth Winstead nails it. From subtile facial expressions during character moments, to fast action fight-scenes, I bought her in the role. There was zero "cringe" in her approach to the character and I was totally won over.

Finally, a few others have complained that this is yet another "white person kills asians" movies. There's merit to that issue but I would argue that - especially towards the end - the context of western vs eastern (Japanese in this case) crime culture is brought specifically into the plot as topics of honor and loyalty are specifically discussed and contribute to the evolution of the plot in meaningful ways. Personally - as a white guy who spent 7 years in Japan and who speaks Japanese - I thought they did a great job of bringing this stereotype into the plot vs just having another "white action person takes on Asian crime-syndicate" movie...

So ok this is my take. Every year the big studios are handed scripts, many scripts and many are rejected. How many scripts with the whole "trained assassin" have we seen? Netflix must get thousands with the same bloody main plot, and reject them. Warner Bros, Sony probably do too and keep maybe 2 out of a hundred. Netflix, on the other hand, get (say) a hundred of these assassin scripts and keep 50, and seemingly work through them making movies to fill a need. They love them. They tolerate much more, lame and average scripts, than you would expect a movie studio to... but then they are essentially a TV station, and have more time to fill.

This film is your typical double-hard assassin movie. Well made - I like the lead and supporting cast - plus it looks good, is watchable, but ultimately is generic and predictably unoriginal. The plot will have no surprises, and will be the least interesting aspect, but it won't offend you too much either. Maybe as a slightly older person, I have seen too many movies like this to be involved and excited by it. Were I half my age, with less experience of such film, I might have better things to say. As it stands, if you like this kind of assassin getting revenge movie, you'll have a good time. Just do not expect anything new here.

I have a major crush on Winsted. Having said that, good fights, bad cgi car chase. Watchable.

The world works in a kind of spiral, where everything 30 years ago becomes popular again, with small alterations. Kate is a story of a perfect assassin, betrayed and raising hell in the name of vengeance as poison is slowly killing her. Stylish, with Japanese neo-noir design, involving the Yakuza and greedy Westerners, it is a return to the 90s stories, where lone gunmen (people?) were dealing their own brand of justice in a corrupt and decadent world full of greed and inequality. Of course, the main character is female now, but you've seen this film before, a few times perhaps, and everything is pretty standard.

What shines trough the bland plot is the acting of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who singlehandedly carries the film through. In fact, every other actor is an extra in the plot anyway, so she either made this film work or not. And it works. Kudos also to Jun Kunimura, who can, with a slight adjustment of body posture and a couple of facial expressions, tell an entire story in a second.

Bottom line: a predictable story from start to finish, but made well and acted well. Ridiculous body count which could have, with small changes to the plot, be significantly reduced and the time gained spent on storytelling.

There's actually a lot more to like in this new Netflix offering than one would expect: Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes a surprisingly capable action heroine, and the fight scenes are very well-staged and exciting. She goofs enough times, and faces enough adversity, to protect her from any accusations of being a Mary-Sue, and as a result we buy into her journey an awful lot more than we would a Rey, a Captain Marvel or Black Widow.

The dialogue is all filler, and the plot almost a carbon copy of better action films like John Wick, Lucy, Kill Bill, Hanna, Nikita and The Long Kiss Goodnight, but the Tokyo setting and nighttime cinematography look great, and all the actors pull off their roles pretty much faultlessly.

All in all, very predictable and containing nothing original of any kind, but a well-made and decent-enough popcorn-muncher if you're in the mood.