# Atomic Blonde redux **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903 "2018-04-22T15:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903/1 "2018-04-22T15:05:21Z")
Previous thread here: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=832168](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=832168) I just watched this movie and I got two main questions. First the good: visually stunning, great action, Charlize! But… The bad: Who the hell generated “the List”? And for what purpose? It must of been a good one because who ever did it didn’t just write the names on a piece of paper, they had it converted to microfilm and, presumably, hired a machinist to embed it into a watch. MI6 has been trying to discover the identity of a double agent mole in their organization for years. Gascoigne had the list so he knew it was Lorraine. Why not just pick up a phone and call that info in? Surely that would have gotten a tea with the queen. And the other thing, why would the CIA want or need to have a triple agent working against MI6? If the mole had been a problem for them then presumably some of their secrets had made it to the KGB or else how would they known there was a mole? What possible motivation would the United States have for doing that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903/2 "2018-04-22T20:11:35Z")
I didnt care for it. Seems like Charlize didnt actually do much other than kick ass in boots… which is cool to watch, sure but doesn’t make for a film. I had the same questions. And the director REALLY fucking loved smoking- the camera lingered on the smoking like it was giving him an erection. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903/3 "2018-04-22T20:22:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I didnt care for it. Seems like Charlize didnt actually do much other than kick ass in boots… which is cool to watch, sure but doesn’t make for a film. She didn’t really even do that. Sure, I guess she technically “won” all the fights, but I wouldn’t characterize any of them as her “kicking ass”; it would be much more accurate to describe them as “Charlize Theron got _her_ ass kicked but eventually won the fight anyways, mainly just because she’s the protagonist.” ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903/4 "2018-04-23T14:42:23Z")
I liked it. Admittedly, I only half paid attention to the plot. The fight scenes were great. More realistic than fight scenes in many movies where the protagonist barely gets a scratch on him/her. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903/5 "2018-04-23T16:22:23Z")
I had the same questions, and more. I assume that Percival wasn’t a double-agent, and his shenanigans were solely for the purpose of maintaining status quo - he didn’t want anyone to get The List. But as **Asimovian** asked in the other thread, then did that mean Lorraine wanted Spyglass killed? She certainly seemed to be trying to keep him alive, but she had a lot to lose if he were able to identify her as the mole. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-blonde-redux/812903/6 "2018-04-23T17:31:04Z")
The movie is pretty, but I lost all interest in the increasingly-incoherent plot about halfway through. At the end, when they reveal Theron’s character was a CIA agent all along, I was content to shrug that off with a “sure, whatever.”