Kate

This was a La Femme Nikita/DOA situation filtered though live action anime with touches of the current slate of action movies like Atomic Blonde, Hardcore Henry, The Raid, and John Wick.

I guess I don't get the critics being harsher on this than any other action movie of late. Stuff happens. Action happens. Some more stuff happens. Some more action happens. It's a fun romp that dosnt outstay it's welcome. And you get to see a unique fight haircut.

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.

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.

Majority credit to her ability to feel her role, to empathise with the story and deliver humanity through her character. She was just as impressive in Fargo, where I first encountered her. It takes true talent to convince ME that your character is simultaneously cold blooded and warm hearted.

As for the flick itself, the action is real enough in that the protagonist displays the ability to f-s-up but will fumble with fatigue and sickness, misjudge enough to be outweighed by an opponent not necessarily of an equal skill set.

The usual sacrifice of substantial plot and believability of her opponents' characters remains as with any martial arts snd/or action flick, which isn't necessarily something to frown upon. In fact if the opposite were the case it would be an instant 10 stars.