Atomic Blonde (Film Review)

2017 Focus Features
Directed by David Leitch; Written by: Kurt Johnstad
Starring: Charlize Theron and James McAvoy; MPAA Rating: R
Nicsperiment Score: 6/10 

Atomic Blonde stars Charlize Theron as a badass British intelligence agent. She's trying to hunt down some type of macguffin in Berlin during the 1989 week the wall comes down. An especially wormy James McAvoy tags along as a rogue agent with questionable loyalties. David Leitch, a co-director on John Wick, rather anonymously directs this adaptation of a 2012 graphic novel titled The Coldest City.
Leitch seems concerned with only two elements of the film: its killer 80's new-wave soundtrack and a ten minute fight scene/shootout/car chase filmed and edited to look like one take. The plot is otherwise as generic as they come, and the other action scenes are exercises in boredom. The film looks digitally unreal outside of the gritty, extended "one-take" scene, bouncing between Communist Europe gray, and a hyper-neon Berlin cool that somehow just doesn't quite register.
Theron is fine in the role, having already assumed the mantle of a quite believable action star in 2015's Mad Max. However, that film meant something, and Atomic Blonde doesn't mean anything. It does what it needs to do to get to that ten-minute action showcase, and pumps in the tunes to keep the viewer awake during the other 105 minutes. If a movie is going to waste my time, I prefer it to be concise.