Atomic Blond

Atomic Blond

There is a special place in hell for directors of coming attractions. This movie is not just a flimsy lesbian laced donnybrook depicted in movie trailers. It has all that and more. This is a very respectable spy movie set in 1989 in Berlin when the cold war was hot. This film is more like John le Carre than Ian Fleming. There are spies, double spies and triple spies. In the absence of Bond type gadgetry, commando fighting dominates the film. Theron’s muscular fighting was impressive and exhausting. Everything was a weapon: rope, hot plates, phones and of course red stiletto heels. Theron was a one woman racking crew. Towards the end of the movie Theron was black and blue. How much was real and how much was make up? Apparently, she had real commando trading in the film and she was hurt.

The movie was a bit slow on the up take. Theron’s character is being debriefed by John Goodman (CIA) and his MI6 counterpart.  Poor Goodman looks like a deflated balloon with his massive weight loss. The narrative is a bit tedious cutting back and forth between the action and the debriefing room. It is a bit distracting. James McAvoy is a British spy with many secrets. He sleazy performance is counterpoint to his usual wholesome roles. but well done overall.

Another key player is Sofia Boutella. She is a French spy who becomes Theron’s lover. The intimate scenes are more suggestive than graphic. Her screen presence, with her clothes on, is not significant but her character is important.

In the end, this film was a pleasant surprise. It wasn’t mindless Rambo type movie of scantly glad tall blondes jello wrestling (God forbid). The plot was homage to Cold War spy movies. This was also another attempt by Hollywood to woo a female audience to action films. Whereas Wonder Woman was wholesomeness on white bread, Atomic Blond is naughtiness thickly spread on black pumpernickel. The almighty buck is asexual.

p.s.-I regret to report that Charlize Theron has a manish ass. Her butt looks like two loafs of Wonder Bread pressed together rather than the classic pear-shaped derrieres of Renaissance art and certain Latino signers. Perfection is over rated. 

Dunkirk

Dunkirk

Dunkirk is ponderous. It is somber and British. Using Saving Private Ryan as a reference, Dunkirk is the polar opposite. Whereas Saving Private Ryan is dynamic and has forward motion Dunkirk is stagnant and stoic. If Christopher Nolan wanted to convey anxiety and desperation he did so splendidly.

The movie is a series of vignettes. There are the stranded troops on the beach with Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton. Then there are the RAF spit fighter pilots engaging Nazi planes. One of the pilots, Tom Hardy, is totally unrecognizable since he wears an aviators hat. The other piece of the movie focuses on the flotilla of small boats sailing to Dunkirk to rescue the solders. One of the best performances of the movie takes place on one of the boats with Mark Rylance and Cillian Murphy. Given the chaos of war this compartmentalization is an effective approach. The vignettes are puzzle pieces of the whole.

The film is epic in scope. The cinematography is sweeping with aerial views of the vast of the beach and the thousands of British troops waiting in neat rows for reuse. The vulnerability of the troops was striking. The coming attractions conveyed images of slaughter on the beach, but the majority of the troops were evacuated. There were attacks by the Luftwaffe on the troops but only with one or two planes.

There are moments of bravo when RAF spitfire downs a Germain plane or when the little boats arrive. It makes does little hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Some historical facts:

• ·         Of the 338,226 soldiers, the majority were rescued by the Royal Navy. The small boats ferried soldiers from the beach to waiting vessels. Some sailed back to Dover.
• ·         Why weren’t the troops slaughtered on the beach? Hitler gave his infamous Halt order stopping Panzer tanks from continuing the assault. A major blunder.
• ·         Nolan’s film is getting tagged with #ohsowhite.  There were troops of color at Dunkirk. There was the Royal Indian Army Service Corps and other soldiers from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In the film, there is one shot of a French solider of color.

This is an important movie. Reviews are positive and the box office is healthy. As with all historical films their veracity is debated. This is a war movie of elegance.