“ATOMIC BLONDE”: MORE THAN JANE BOND

People, stop comparing the new Charlize Theron spy thriller Atomic Blonde to the James Bond franchise.

I understand on a basic level the reason for these comparisons: pretty much any spy movie is subject to this. However, to me, it was much more than a plug-and-play spy thriller.
There are plenty of parallels, both James Bond and Theron’s Lorraine Broughton are super spies whose back stories we know little about. It’s quickly established both characters are excellent at what they do. They both have a somewhat cavalier and open minded take on romantic entanglements.
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However, from a cinematic perspective, that’s about where the comparisons end. Atomic Blonde is a period piece set in 1989, right before the Berlin Wall falls. Every James Bond movie is set in a vague present day relative to the time it was filmed. There’s always an abundance of fictional gadgets available to aid 007 in his pursuits. Heck, some of the gadgets still haven’t been realized by technology in the real world, and probably never will. Lorraine Broughton has to rely mostly on wits, bullets, and skill.

Bond films are often defined by their theme song. Atomic Blonde uses a killer (pun intended) soundtrack throughout. James Bond almost always has the answer, and in some senses, he’s the worst spy in the world as everyone knows his name. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge James Bond fan, every week as a kid I would look forward to going to the video rental store to get a different Bond film on VHS to rent. (Kids, ask your parents what a video rental store is…) One can be a fan and objectively aware of the flaws of something.

However, my biggest qualm with Bond films is they often feel silly. Not just because often times they quickly become stylistically outdated. More because the character over the years feels less and less real. When James Bond gets in a fight with an enemy, he recovers almost immediately and orders a martini (shaken, not stirred of course). When Lorraine Broughton fights, she gets worn down. When someone punches her, it hurts. It made her much more riveting to watch because there were stakes involved. She fought like a woman (in a good way), using techniques that would make sense in the real world instead of pretending she has superpowers.

Atomic Blonde is by no means a perfect film, but it was a damn good action spy flick in its own right. So please stop trying to make her Jane Bond, and let her just be Lorraine Broughton.

This article originally appeared on KFOG.com on July 28, 2017