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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.

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.

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.

Shoot them in the stomach. They die slow, in agony, and they know, it's personal.

A brand new original Netflix movie starring Woodie Harrelson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Stylistically this movie was awesome. Tokyo at night looked vibrant with many colorful neon anime characters. There's a lot of pink, especially in the car chase scene. That was some amazing camera work and reminded me a bit of Baby Driver. Also, the music hyped up the movie throughout.

This led to the violent and entertaining fight scenes. This gave some John Wick vibe with some creative use of weapons. In these scenes Mary Winstead was a total badass showing brutality when she kills. She carried every scene and I loved her performance.

The biggest problem of the movie was that I could see 99% of the movie from a mile away. Honestly this didn't affect me as much as it should because I loved the style and action a lot.

Overall, an enjoyable flick despite the predictable story. 7.5/10.

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