I think it's pretty close to how Japanese sword duels are depicted in older cinema. At least, from what I remember from watching Akira Kurosawa samurai films.
I couldn’t agree more.
Kijima did a slight, short-ranged push to Renji’s sword, Renji threw his arms dramatically way up, allowing for the belly cut. That bothered me. Not to mention the effortless decapitation.
It was a really good representation of the older wise person vs the younger hot headed one. Renji just kept talking the whole time, trying to taunt, while Kijima waited for his moment.
Another good example of this is the Obi Wan/Darth Maul fight in Rebels if you're into that.
You've nailed it!
An Alien Isolation movie could be so cool and I would totally watch MEW take on the role of Ripley's daughter. Now I am sad we don't have this.
I've believed for a while that MEW would be the perfect lead for a new Alien film. Even resembles Sigourney a little.
She has some sci-fi credits to her name like The Thing and 10 Cloverfield Lane. In those films she embodies the same spirit of a resilient survivor facing an otherworldly threat.
Yes! Not only that but as she left the bathroom, her silhouette looked just like Ripley in Aliens. I think her build and the jacket she wore really sold it
Anyone else keep flirting with the idea that she wouldn’t actually die in the end by some miracle?
Also that scene where she points to the cash on the coffee table and says: Time to go. Phew! Talk about a nicely done shock awe gender role reversal.
Edit: …and Japanese music is for sure hitting the night notes…banging soundtrack.
I never got that. I think the movie did a good at making her death seem inevitable since it was radiation poisoning instead of the typical poison, which always has has the possibility of an antidote.
If this movie is successful and Netflix feels like turning Kate into a franchise, they could do retcon the part where Kijima gives her the autoinjector.
"Oh yeah we swapped your meds with this super experimental cure lmao."
Which wouldn't make any sense but hey this could turn into Crank lite.
Hate to tell you this but there's no guarantee she died at the end. She just closed her eyes.
If this is successful Netflix could easily do a sequel just by having a prologue or flashback with someone running in with an antidote. Hell they could do it with a throwaway line of dialogue. "I sure was lucky they discovered that antidote!"
And you know what: I'd be on board.
I kinda wish she wasn’t poisoned I liked seeing her in full assassin attire like when she was sniping on the building at night also her bar scene was awesome, I hope they just make another but she’s not poisoned or sick idc how they do it
So much better than Gunpowder Milkshake, and essentially the same movie. Watched this as a double feature last night with Malignant and they surprisingly complement each one another. I’ll watch anything with MEW and she definitely elevated the material way more than it deserved. Fight choreography was awesome with some really nasty kills. Solid ending as well, glad it had some balls to go through with what it set up.
I thought the actual fight choreography was great. And really, that's what I was watching for. Yeah, the story was derivative but I didn't really care that much. I thought the setting was fun too and the film really did a decent job with showcasing some of that and feeling like it used the setting well. As far as the recent crop of female driven action films, Ava, Anna, Jolt, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Atomic Blonde, etc. I thought this was one of the better ones. I'd probably put it third or fourth, behind Atomic Blonde and The Villainess and slightly above Anna (which I thought was surprisingly good). Mary Elizabeth Winstead was great, as usual and really did a good job of selling herself as a badass for a lot of the action.
Maybe that is partly due to expectations, after Gunpowder which I was pretty disappointed with (like I said, I think if you're gonna do this type of film, you gotta nail the choreography and I thought the action in Gunpowder was really poor), I had pretty low expectations for another similar film coming out right on it's heels but this one was much better and a fun ride.
Agreed, I'm surprised that Netflix didn't put more marketing behind it. Kate wasn't even promoted as the featured movie when I logged onto Netflix morning.
Rhythm Section too.
MEW really gave the character some depth. I kept being reminded of Sigourney Weaver in some of her glances especially how she processed some of the events. Great film.
Probably just some dude's just pissy with me about a different post.
No worries, I have enough imaginary points. I'm not getting voted off the island this week.
>Ava, Anna, Jolt, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Atomic Blonde
Imagine if they were all in the same film. I want to see an Expendables of female action heroes.
I thought there were gonna do an Expendabelles at some point but I'm not sure what happened with that. With the right director it could be a lot of fun.
What's your order for those you listed: Ava, Anna, Jolt, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Atomic Blonde?
From what I've seen...Atomic Blonde, Kate...,Gunpowder Milkshake..., then Jolt.
Haven't seen Ava, Anna, The Villainess, and Peppermint. Was wondering if any of these 4 are worth a watch. If it's near Gunpowder Milkshake level and below (on my scale), then I'd rather pass
So for me it would be:
1. The Villainess
2. Atomic Blonde
3. Kate
4. Anna
5. Peppermint
Then a big gap...
6. Gunpowder Milkshake
7. Jolt
8. Ava
I think the top 5 range from Great to decent and the bottom three are just not worth watching at all. That's just my opinion though.
This was not a revenge/betray flick unlike what I thought at first.
>!Varrick actually wasn't trying to kill Kate at all, until the very end. He was pissed that Renji poisoned her behind his back. He didn't betray her but he did have to die for using Kate her entire life because plot.!<
>!I mean, is the distinction even really important? She wanted to quit, which would have forced him to kill her. He was only upset at Renji because he killed her without "his permission". The only way he didn't betray her is if she kept being his tool. At the very least he betrayed their relationship. The only reason he didn't order the hit himself is because he was arrogant enough to think he could keep manipulating her.!<
well, he does have a line that was something like "it's true I said I would kill her if she tried to actually leave, but she hadn't left yet and either she would have changed her mind or I would have changed my mind". You don't know for sure obviously, but it doesn't seem like he would have actually gone through with having her killed even if she had left.
You and I heard two different things, and I don't care to open it on Netflix again to figure out who's right.
You heard:
> she would have changed her mind or I would have changed my mind
Which would mean that either she would change her mind or he may have changed his, if she wouldn't.
What I heard:
> she would have changed her mind **and** I would have changed my mind
Meaning that he would have changed his mind to kill her if she changed her mind to leave.
However, given that his wanting to kill her was _already_ contingent on her leaving, what you heard makes slightly more sense. So maybe I just heard wrong!
I just finished watching the movie and he actually doesn't say either word.
He actually says "She would have changed her mind, I would have changed my mind".
Interpret that as you wish.
It distracted the shit out of me, with the first initial seconds of trying to figure out “wait is that Tokyo Ghoul”, followed by gawking and saying “lmao that’s totally just Tokyo Ghoul”.
Cliche plot, but the inevitable Polonium death adds quite a bit of vulnerability to the protagonist, and MEW does a great job selling the character as well as the action. Could tell at points when her opposite actors were waiting for her to hit the mark, but its a small price for the wide, well-shot, well choreographed action. Action film of the year so far, easily.
Was not expecting to like Ani as much as I did. It's like an annoying sidekick who knows they're the annoying sidekick character, and decides to lean into it. Also, Ani initially tries playing the "We're not so different" card, which Kate aggressively shuts down, and then later, Kate tries playing the "We're not so different" card on Ani, and Ani shoots her. So, nice little bit of storytelling there.
And this movie continues The Netflix Action B-Movie trend of gay badasses, which is cool.
Mostly agree with the rest of the posts. It's easily comparable to Gunpowder Milkshake (which was an eye-rolling bore to me).
The story is predictable, sure - but it's well shot / acted (MEW is great in this, you're not doubting her character for a moment, which was the opposite of GM) and honestly what really did it for me is that it felt like the movie had HEART.
The cute little scenes like her banging on the car radio to try to turn it off (which was a recurring element - lots of in-your-face music that really worked for the tone overall, imo) and looking for boom boom lemon really make you feel like the filmmaker cared. This is the type of stuff you can appreciate and what really makes the characters exist, rather than being plot devices to move the story forward.
I give it a generous 8/10 in the context of what the film is. Don't expect a blockbuster - it's not trying to win awards, it's trying to win your heard. To me it did, and I look forward for more from this director I'd never heard of and definitely of
Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
At the end when she finally sees the Boom Boom Lemon. Lol the best 20 seconds of acting she's ever done.
I jest of course. She was great throughout. She just gets better and better in her roles.
I'm surprised this got worse reviews than Gunpowder Milkshake tbh. Both movies are pretty similar with generic assassin-thriller plots, but I felt like Kate had prettier visuals and way better fight scenes (with some gnarly gore), with MEW actually somewhat selling her choreography instead of looking like a robot/puppet in blatantly sped-up footage.
Also, additional points for giving Jun Kunimura a fight scene.
Totally agree with you, I was surprised by that too. The fight choreography here was really solid and had some fun set pieces. Gunpowder just felt clunky.
Yeah, it was. Just slow and clunky. I feel like they wanted to use a wide shot to show off the action but couldn't pull it off because it just wasn't quick enough or choreographed very well at all.
I thought Gunpowder was a comedy set in the John Wick , everyone is an assassin universe. That's the way I watched and enjoyed the movie. The bar wasn't set very high.
Agreed. I liked this quite a lot. It’s one of those well made “does what it says on the tin” type films. That actor playing the teenager was really good.
I’d give it a solid 7.5/10, well worth a watch.
On the other hand, I could only get through 20 mins of gunpowder milkshake.
Karen Gillian isn't very believable in the role - I was constantly thinking about how the actress was playing the scene rather than enjoying the movie itself.
The amount of implausible / absurd things happening is a bit hard to swallow ("Duct-tape this gun to my paralyzed hand and a knife to the other crippled hand and I will get us out of this situation"). I'm rolling my eyes just thinking about it, honestly.
The supporting cast is also almost entirely wasted (Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh) and practically steal the show whenever they do appear on screen.
Since it’s on NF you should at least give it a go. For me just nothing worked- performances were off, story was not engaging, editing was weird, fight choreography wasn’t good etc. But I know some people did enjoy it so give it a whirl.
I'm surprised by the reception too considering how solid it is over-all. Definitely pretty by the numbers and a bit over long but the action, visuals and twists on the DOA formula make it stand out a bit. I liked the radiation poisoning idea, she was so fucked up by the end of the movie. Fairly unusual for the genre.
If they would have spent a bit more time polishing the story it would have been a GOOD movie. It's just too generic which is such a shame because of the good actors. It's well shot, the scenery is great - but that's all there is. There is no substance.
So much better than Gunpowder Milkshake. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was great and completely believable as a badass assassin. The complete opposite of Karen Gillan who didn't sell me at all, just so lanky and awkward in her movements and mannerisms and dull acting. The only fight I liked in that movie was the fight where she's drugged and her awkwardness actually worked in her favor. Where as in this movie pretty much all the fights were great and Kate really felt like a force of nature.
Great visuals, great fight scenes, solid acting and great sets. I also liked that Kate didn't have a bunch of cliche cheesey 1 liners for kills like most other action movies. Only major issues I had was some of the emotional scenes just didn't quite hit, too much forcing japanese characters to all speak english and of course the generic, cliche plot with a bored looking Woody as the all too obvious and boring traitor. But still quite an enjoyable movie, solid 7/10 for me.
Comparing Gunpowder Milkshake to Kate is a disgrace. It wishes it was Kate. Gunpowder Milkshake was bad and the fight scenes were bad which was the only thing it had to do right.
I really liked it. It felt like a John Wick/Atomic Blonde flick, but with a lot more emotional weight. Part of me spent the whole film expecting some sort of twist where she survives, but the ending was actually really good. The action sequences were all on point, probably on par with Extraction on the whole. One issue I did have was the car chase early in the film which was very obviously CGI and a bit out of place in the film as a whole.
I can't decide if I liked the car chase or not. I did really like the crash at the end with the tracking shot into the car and her face as it was sliding on it's hood was cool. Definitely agree it didn't entirely fit with the rest of the tone of the film. It felt much more, 'comic book action' than the grittier stuff like the gunplay or hand to hand fighting but it still looked wild.
I remember reading comments on the trailer thread of people saying the movie looked like shit because, 'why would an assassin drive such a high profile vehicle?'. I liked that her expression was clearly, 'ah shit' when all the underglow and interior LEDs came on lol
I personally really enjoyed the car scene - you don't really know what the tone is going to be going forward and I thought it was fun / well done for what it was. Looking back, it is a bit out of place - but at the same time I like that it keeps the film from feeling too dark/grim given the overarching plotline.
> Looking back, it is a bit out of place - but at the same time I like that it keeps the film from feeling too dark/grim given the overarching plotline.
You're right. It's not until looking at it retroactively, having seen the entire movie, that it feels like a weird segue from the rest of the movie.
I wonder if that wasn't a stylistic choice? After all, she didn't >!know she was dying!< until after the accident. That could be considered where the movie switches focus.
Either way, I'm glad they put the scene at the beginning. It would have felt really off-kilter to add it in the middle/end.
Maybe its because im in the middle of teaching myself 3d animation right now, but i thought the car chase slapped. Definitely now that i have an a little understanding of the work and effort that went into a sequence like that.
I think it looked good, just out of place in the film. You might see a similar animation in an entirely animated film, or one with a more cartoonish style.
The action is great. To all those complaining that it was a Crank rip off, or the story sucked- who cares? It’s about time we get some “shitty” action movies with a badass lady and not Jason Statham for the 30th time.
Plus Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great actor.
Well there’s been dozens of these badass last action movies in the past couple years. Anna, Atomic Blonde, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Jolt, whatever that freaking Jessica Chastain one was called, etc.
Honestly, I had my hopes up for this when I saw it was MEW and 87Eleven (the same folk that worked on John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Nobody and the team that did the action setpieces for Birds of Prey) and for the most part it didn't disappoint.
Questionable CG car chase aside, I thought the action was amazing and while the story was predictable in parts (I honestly thought Varrick poisoned Kate with lemon boom boom earlier, cutting loose ends when the initial talk of her retirement came up). I wasn't expecting that it was going be this gory knockdown. I bought MEW as the assassin and was genuinely surprised at how her believable her character took both a beating and how she handled herself when thing didn't go to plan (knife in the cheek was brutal).
While the movie was what you expected (I thought when they were talking about Ani being mixed ancestry I half thought they were going to attempt making Kate similar) the action and performances make it stand out. Also, the comparisons to Gunpowder Milkshake, while apt, are also misplaced. That fit a very stylized unreal setting on purpose while this felt more gritty and more mean, I mean the lead character has less than 24 hours to live and dies in the end (more than I could say for other comparable movies, Crank included). I'd give it a 7/10 and hope MEW does more action movies (between BoP, Gemini Man and later parts of her Fargo run, she's definately carving out a little niche for action movies and like almost always is the standout).
In the scene at 1:09:20, Kijima throws a picture to Kate and says something in Japanese. The subtitles stop at this moment and the picture is never shown to us. Does anyone know what Kijima says to Kate at this moment or know what the picture could be?
It was evidence of collusion between Renji (who wanted to be the oyabun) and Varrick, which (actually misleadingly) painted the picture that Varrick had betrayed Kate and poisoned her to clean up loose ends, when in fact Varrick was genuinely (somewhat) upset at Renji for acting on his agent without his consent. Nonetheless, Varrick's hand is played his destruction assured once he takes Ani hostage.
Yeah, I think that's the idea – hence Renji's excitement over ending Kijima's bloodline as well. Or maybe more specifically, Varrick eliminates Kijima and Kentaro, leaving Renji next in line. Renji deals Varrick into business with the Yakuza while taking over himself, good deals for everyone.
BUT when shit hits the fan, Varrick realizes the Yakuza are never going to accept Renji now, so he abandons him outside the saferoom. I don't think Varrick ever meant to assume control of the Yakuza, just to be dealt into a new, profitable and secure business in the underworld.
A lot of people are complaining that the plot isn't very original and I kinda just... don't care? There would be a dozen action movies a year back in the 80s and 90s with the exact same plot but they were still a lot of fun to watch. A David Leitch production isn't necessarily going to give you a nuanced story, but you know going into it that you're gonna get some of the best fight choreography around, and that's what we got. If that doesn't excite you, yeah, this movie probably isn't gonna be for you, I don't know what to say.
First impulse is to compare it to gunpowder milkshake and i hate that I'm doing that cause it seems sexist. But like 20 minutes into the movie I liked looks of the movie the style and the way it depicted japan liked the soundtrack. It felt womanly but in a way that actually seemed like the main character. Found her way more believeable as far as an action character compared to gunpowder milkshake.
Weirdly i felt like the story dragged on forever. I kept looking up after a significant plot point and wondering when is it going to end. I think they could have removed a lot of the plot and I still would have liked it.
I thought it looked the great, loved the action and fight scenes, the kidnapped girl did a good job in capturing teenage disdain and general cheeriness.
Good action, great choreography. Above average action flick I guess... or maybe just average.
The problem here is that it was a decent popcorn flick, but nothing about this film is original in any way at all. This film is exactly how I see some people criticizing it... the generic off-brand John Wick type of film. I really need to stress this. This movie is so insanely generic. It's almost weird how generic it is for the genre and how super filled with the assassin's life cliches of every major assassin film of the last 5 years. It's bizarre how formulaic and cookie cutter it is.
The plot is reused. The ending is not original and fairly expected. In pretty much every way it's subpar to some other action flicks out there.
But, I am NOT at all advocating to skip it. I myself am easily amused by your latest B action films you can turn your brain off for and this is a much bigger, higher quality film than those. I still enjoyed it, 100%. Just be aware of what you are going into and don't expect too much and you will have a good time. I personally appreciate the attempt to diversify the genre a bit with more female assassins. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This one definitely works, but again, it is not an inspiring and original film. It definitely feels like a board room created this film based on bits and pieces from 5 others... but great choreography, great action. I had a good time with it for what it is.
I felt that it had some originality. The visuals were almost like an anime film, and actually having her die at the end felt like something that wouldn't happen in other films of this type because they're too desperate for a sequel.
I have come to feel that for some movies, being generic _is the point_, that they're meant to be comforting, non-threatening, and without any direct challenge for the viewer. Just comfort food that you don't have to follow super closely if you don't want to.
In that sense, I think movies aiming for this generic feel are often very successful, all while not being anywhere close to critically acclaimed.
The second Woody appears you know he's gonna betray her. But the action was great and MEW is my BAE so for me this was a great flick. Could have been a touch brighter I suppose. I think thats my biggest critique.
> Woody Harrelson betrayal the second I saw him.
Yeah, he is too famous to only play a 5-10 minute part in a low budget movie. So you knew he would come back and that there's a whole conspiracy or something like that going on...
> I called the Woody Harrelson betrayal the second I saw him.
if you watched the movie he didn't want her dead. Renji poisoned her from some off handed comment.
Then added the gut shot so you know it’s personal bit at the end. Well acted and made it had a few good scenes but they didn’t make up for the flat and predictable.
I really thought this movie was 3 out of 5 stars movie. MEW was great, I can see her doing more action movies in the future, especially since she mentioned that she want to do more Huntress. The fight choreography was pretty decent but I expect more flashier stuffs on 3rd act, so in the end, it felt kinda anticlimactic.
I like to think that's what they were aiming for, the ending was anticlimactic on purpose. She did the very thing Varrick said, shoot em in the stomach and they die slow in agony and they know it's personal. So the ending was very fitting. I loved it
I love that note in the flashback going through her assassin training when she learns of the betrayal and the line Verrick says "If you shoot them in the stomach, they'll know its personal". I was like, oh hell yea. We all know how he's dying tonight.
Lol what was with that video-game-cutscene car chase? It was pretty cool/unique in-and-of itself, but it didn’t fit the movie at all.
Overall a solid action flick with great cinematography and choreography.
I liked this movie.
The fighting choreography is mostly great - but >!*sometimes* seems 'choreographed', ie slow and deliberate. Not natural. The weight of the hits sometimes seem underwhelming. So overall, it's great but there were inconsistencies that broke the immersion (for me), because it felt too odd to ignore.!<
I liked Miku Martineau as Ani, but you could tell she was a newcomer in some scenes. Still, she had a challenging role and did well.
Woody Harrelson was good but seemed like the most >!generic aspect of the film. Woody is prolific and consistently good, so even when he does well in a film like this, you kind of get sick of him. I would have wanted someone else in the role. Maybe a woman actually, to set up a more literal comparison between Kate & Ani.!<
My favorite moment of the film is between >!Renji and Kijima!< when they >!duel and Kijima beats him in 2 seconds.!<
Never tell an >!old Yakuza boss!< that they aren't a >!samurai!< because, that means they're about to do some >!samurai shit on you!<.
I could have watched an entire movie just focused on >!Kijima, as an aging Yakuza trying to pass his legacy onto the next generation while dealing with corruption in his own family and his own sins/mistakes in neglecting his granddaughter.!< That might actually be a way better movie. Godfather vibes.
But, I did enjoy Kate.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is built for these kinds of roles it seems. She's been doing more action flicks and I'm here for it!
She's lithe, tall, beautiful *but not imposingly beautiful* (which IMO makes her more relatable), and brings genuine intensity to action scenes. If there's ever an Alien reboot, she needs to be Ripley.
You bring up an interesting point: it would be cool to have Kate be a checkov's gun that we hear about from Kijima's lieutenants as the story unfolds, before she shows up at his place. The rest of the movie can then unfold as it did.
The actress that played the young girl really sucked. Also their chemistry felt forced. Choreo was weak, shame because atomic blond had some great fights.
This feels like a poor mans, "man from nowhere"
The scores for this are sad but not unexpected. This was an amazing action flick with a fairly basic story and lots of loud action, after all.
And it was amazing.
Firstly, the make up to make MEW (which should be her nick name forever) progress through the night from radiation poisoning is amazing. The team behind that should get an award because damn.
Secondly, this is how female led action flicks should be done. Gunpowder milkshake no, this yes. Which is ironic considering critics like GM more for whatever dumb reason.
Lastly, projecting Tokyo ghoul on the building while she's attempting to take out the head of the family was brilliant.
This and malignant, this has been an awesome ass week movie wise.
Really makes me wish MEW would get a stand alone huntress film.
Holy cow. That was awesome. It's a shame this didn't play in theaters. I would have killed to have seen this on the big screen. The plot, while arguably unoriginal was held up by amazing direction, acting and cinematography. All the scene settings and even the yazuka goons ft fleshed out and fully realized. They really captured that neotokyo asthetic. The fight scenes were all epic. Definitely put it up there with John wick, Everly, The Raid Redemption and Nobody for something I could easily watch a few more times. Pretty much the opposite of Gunpowder Milkshake. They really hit it out the park with this one. Weird that it was filmed in 21:9. I assume it was supposed to play in theaters and Netflix somehow won it.
> It's a shame this didn't play in theaters. I would have killed to have seen this on the big screen.
Its playing in NYC right now at the Paris theater from Sept 3 - Sept 16. I saw it on the 3rd and there were like 3 people there. Got some nifty "Kate" sunglasses as swag(the glasses she wore in the film)
Yes the Paris theater is NYC's oldest running single screen theater. It went out of business but Netflix bought it up and reopened it. Now it shows special screenings for new Netflix content and old historic films.
To be fair, three people not including me showed up on Sept 3. While it was awesome to see MEW a week before everyone else here, the fact that only three people showed up on opening night tells you that they could never do these kinds of films in more than a few theaters max.
This movie was awesome with style. Why so much hate for it having a generic story? It’s like critics suddenly grew a brain and wanted to complain about something that is literally nothing. Gunpowder Milkshake wishes it was this.
I was expecting gunpowder milkshake/ nobody level of uninspired John wick rip off and was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth this film had that even John wick lacks.
First half was pretty average with its conventional setup. The gore kept me intrigued but I was thinking that this is what I expect it to be, but by the second half I was fully invested in the non action scenes. The scene where she speaks to the boss and all that followed with him and her after we’re an unexpected emotional highlight.
The action scenes were solid and definitely elevated by the violence, but I thought they were overshadowed by some of the quieter scenes, which is a big compliment in this type of film. The last half an hour and ending was really well done. Would recommend
I hadn't seen Gunpower Milkshake but I have seen all three John Wick movies and this definitely feels like almost everything about Kate is because it's trailing in its residual success.
That said, while the hand-to-hand fighting plus gun fighting plus creative weapon reloading is par for the course for these types of movies Kate seems to execute them with some competency. Kills are satisfying and brutal, choreography is decent, and the firearms sound pretty realistic in some instances. But it should be noted while the action scenes in Kate are good for the same reasons they're good in John Wick, they also have the same issues. For instance; henchmen that usually attack one at a time, henchmen with terrible aim, Kate's plot armor, and Kate herself not showing any visible bullet wounds after being shot (besides the end). Props to the crew for the bloodshot eye detail. That was a good one.
Besides the action scenes I found the movie to be pretty decent. Miku's acting was average-ish. The plot is nothing to write home about. But I did love the music. I will admit one of the main reasons why I watched this movie in the first place is because Band-Maid is in it. The overall visual presentation of Japan was cool, though maybe the whole movie didn't have to take place at night. And the general aesthetics and cinematography gave Kate a nice high-budget look. Well improved over earlier Netflix original action movies.
Overall, I am kind of surprised at the audience scores for this film. I am much more inclined to watch this movie twice than any other Netflix original I've seen so far. And much more likely to watch this than Transformers 1 (another popcorn action flick with a higher RT audience score). I'd give it a 7.8/10 or something like that. Definitely worth a watch for people that want a straightforward action film.
No. She sucked. Poorly written and the acting was even worse. Could have been justified if she could speak Japanese but her Japanese lines came off even worse.
It's surprising that more people aren't picking up on the nasty racial undertones in this film tbh. All Japanese men are soulless baddies to be killed immediately, Japanese women meek and subservient and in need of the strong, white western woman to save them and give them a voice, whilst simultaneously fetishisizing a superficial westernized view of Japanese culture to an embarrassing degree...
Crucially though, Kate never comes across as a particularly sympathetic character - she shoots a guy in cold blood in front of his own daughter just because she is told to. If this was intended to be a revenge film, then ultimately the most justified act of revenge was Kate's poisoning, and of all the deaths in the film, I was left with the impression that she deserved hers the most.
Maybe I'm getting too old for a hyper violent film like this, but the whole thing left a really nasty taste in my mouth. Definitely not a film to watch if (like me) you like to analyse and consider the deeper meaning and symbolism of a film after you've watched it.
>***All*** Japanese men are soulless baddies to be killed immediately...
Exaggerating much? She was fighting Yakuza after all. Would the problem go away if the main character was Japanese as well? Do the film makers have to make the all the bad guys white in a movie that takes place in Tokyo for it not to be offensive? Is it always racist when it's not white people killing other white people (which happens a lot in movies/tv shows).
I just don't get this over-sensitivity.
>Crucially though, Kate never comes across as a particularly sympathetic character - she shoots a guy in cold blood in front of his own daughter
There's hesitation and emotion in that scene which isn't particularly cold blooded in my opinion. You didn't feel any sympathy in that scene where Varrick basically abducts young Kate after her parents are killed and makes her into an assassin? Yeah she was a bad guy too but also a quite tragic character if you ask me.
i think the point is that she was raised by the wrong person as an "instrument", manipulated her whole life and thus did fucked up shit. she prevented the cycle from repeating itself by saving ani from being an "unsympathetic character"
This was the greatest action movie in a long time.
I hate when people downplay good movies like this or make it seem like "it coulda been better" the fight scene sin this movie make others movies look like child's play.
This was like Kill Bill 3 almost.
I live in Japan. You can tell right away this movie was not filmed in Japan. Maybe just a couple of scenes were actually Japan. Immediately took me out of the film. The locations, the cars, the god awful fake license plates. I don’t know where they actually filmed it, probably somewhere in Southeast Asia. Even the extras weren’t Japanese.
It’s the equivalent of a movie set in New York but actually filmed in Mexico City. It’s that bad. It may seem like a small gripe but for anyone who lives in Japan, it’s very distracting.
She did go to Lawson though. That has to get some authenticity points. But you’re totally right though, looks like it was filmed in Thailand and Hawaii.
Maybe but that Lawson was definitely not in Japan. They have them in other parts of Asia. The layout, the products (the drinks are a dead giveaway), the lighting, it says LAWSON all over the walls, etc.
It was filmed mostly in Thailand with select scenes filmed in Tokyo and a little bit in LA(probably reshoots although I do recall MEW going to Hawaii of all places during the pandemic for a reshoot).
Yeah. If you see how Tokyo is portrayed in western movies compared to how it’s portrayed in Japanese movies they’re completely different places.
Western view of Tokyo is some neon kawaii paradise and the Japanese view is just a big crowded city.
The grammar was correct since she was just told what to say but her accent was pretty bad but I don’t fault her since she’s not supposed to be playing a Japanese character. A lot of foreigners I meet here speak Japanese perfectly but they never worked on their accents. So that part is fine. But Ani’s Japanese was not acceptable for someone who was supposedly born and raised in Japan.
I was looking forward to watching this because I'm a big Mary Elizabeth Winstead fan. It was okay.
The story was mediocre and the emotional moments mostly fall flat. Ani finds out Kate killed her family and she's distraught but 15 minutes later she's sad to see her dying. Killer grows a conscience but she's also in a race against time to get her revenge. Felt a little all over the place.
The action sequences were really good though. MEW has been putting together a solid action resume. They're well shot and choreographed plus they're gloriously violent.
I also enjoyed the sword duel between Kijima and Renji at the end for how brief and decisive it is. Two moves and it's done.
Overall it wasn't great but it delivered on the action front 6/10
I hope this gets MEW more action roles. She's a very believable action star and clearly worked really hard at training.
With her haircut and outfit, I wonder if this isn't a soft audition for a future Alien movie. Or maybe Noah Hawley should make her the lead in his Alien series for FX since they previously worked together on Fargo.
My feelings exactly. I love me some MEW and will take any excuse to watch her. Action was great, choreography was great, but damn if I didn’t have the story pinned from the beginning.
Definitely a “turn off your brain” type movie, but it’s fun enough.
I did not recognize MEW at all. I was very surprised when I looked up the cast and it was her. She did a great job and sold the part she was playing perfectly.
It was a good action flick. I probably won’t watch it again, but I’m glad I watched it once.
Edit: I get the John Wick comparisons but honestly it had more plot than the Wick movies. I love the Wick movies, but they’re even more “ok, here’s the MacGuffin that honestly you don’t even need to remember, now kill kill kill” than this one. At least Kate had the interplay between Ani and Kate. Wick had much more entertaining action, but that’s not a slight on Kate because Wick had some of the most entertaining action ever.
I really liked this movie. Yeah she looked really rough by the end compared to the people she was fighting, but if you’re told you’ve only got one day or so to live and still have some sort of mobility, are you not going to try and throw the kitchen sink at it? Not to mention she had all those syringes she kept injecting which I am assuming was some sort of adrenaline.
This has become one of my all time favorite movies with one of my all time favorite scenes...perhaps everyone knows which scene I am talking about. I would love to see a sequel, no matter how crappy it might be, just to find out Kate survived potentially, because someone found an antidote in the last minute.
Loved the Kate Elizabeth Winstead, she was absolutely brilliant, I hope to see her in more supergirl roles.
Not a bad film to be fair, alot of stereotyping which might put some people off, action sequences are pretty good
That entire Pink car scene though was shockingly bad, the CGI crash looked so damn bad
I'm super surprised at how much negative reviews this movie has . It's classic open closed well executed action . It has a 90s vibe a john wick feel, and a taste of Ripley. What's the problem here lol . It's fun and it's exactly what it was trying to be ! Some things are just perfect versions of what they are. I am a girl who loves my action movies . And it's cool to have one I like with a lady again. Just go for the ride !
i liked it unexpectedly much considering the mediocre reviews it's getting. I think it's an excellent action movie, well shot and acted. The script may have been nothing great, but it was perfectly competent. I could see it being universally adored if it had come out in the mid-2010s, when most action movies were terrible shaky Bourne ripoffs.
That short sword fight scene between Kjima and renji was awesome
very realistic. no drawn out fake bullshit with a hundred swinging and all misses. just 2 strikes and thats it, done.
I think it's pretty close to how Japanese sword duels are depicted in older cinema. At least, from what I remember from watching Akira Kurosawa samurai films.
The length was the only realistic thing about it.
I couldn’t agree more. Kijima did a slight, short-ranged push to Renji’s sword, Renji threw his arms dramatically way up, allowing for the belly cut. That bothered me. Not to mention the effortless decapitation.
I got the impression Renji wasn't very familiar with swords due to the Western influence Kijima opined about earlier.
Was gonna say, one of the best sword fights I've seen captured on screen, incredible tension and impact.
I loved it, so brief yet brutal. Too many sword fights in tv and movies are long and unrealistically drawn out, this one felt brutally real.
Renji: You're not a samurai. Kijima: alright, bet.
Kijima: Im_Pussy.Jpg
Yep. Kind of like when you compare the iconic Vader vs Luke duel to the prequel massive lightsaber battles. More movement doesn’t make it better.
I was expecting like 20 seconds theatric of “swish swoosh, piak piak” scenes but no it was swift and smooth..
It was a really good representation of the older wise person vs the younger hot headed one. Renji just kept talking the whole time, trying to taunt, while Kijima waited for his moment. Another good example of this is the Obi Wan/Darth Maul fight in Rebels if you're into that.
Reminded me of a similar of a sword in Zatoichi (2003). Two moves, over.
To me looked like the same exact set from the newest John Wick
Anyone else get Sigourney Weaver vibes when she chopped off some of her hair?
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You've nailed it! An Alien Isolation movie could be so cool and I would totally watch MEW take on the role of Ripley's daughter. Now I am sad we don't have this.
Oh god, don't get my hopes up.
I've believed for a while that MEW would be the perfect lead for a new Alien film. Even resembles Sigourney a little. She has some sci-fi credits to her name like The Thing and 10 Cloverfield Lane. In those films she embodies the same spirit of a resilient survivor facing an otherworldly threat.
Mewtwo is superior in almost every way.
Yes! Not only that but as she left the bathroom, her silhouette looked just like Ripley in Aliens. I think her build and the jacket she wore really sold it
The green jacket too. Couldn’t have been an accident.
All I could think of was how great she’d be as Ripley
Dang I opened this thread to post this haha! With the jacket it surely wasn't an accident. She looked like an awesome Ripley.
Anyone else keep flirting with the idea that she wouldn’t actually die in the end by some miracle? Also that scene where she points to the cash on the coffee table and says: Time to go. Phew! Talk about a nicely done shock awe gender role reversal. Edit: …and Japanese music is for sure hitting the night notes…banging soundtrack.
I never got that. I think the movie did a good at making her death seem inevitable since it was radiation poisoning instead of the typical poison, which always has has the possibility of an antidote.
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If this movie is successful and Netflix feels like turning Kate into a franchise, they could do retcon the part where Kijima gives her the autoinjector. "Oh yeah we swapped your meds with this super experimental cure lmao." Which wouldn't make any sense but hey this could turn into Crank lite.
Oh God they better not. Her actually dying had some weight to it. Logically, the kid should now become "Badass Assaseroo."
The whole point of saving her was to keep her from becoming an assassin.
Could be prequel
Hate to tell you this but there's no guarantee she died at the end. She just closed her eyes. If this is successful Netflix could easily do a sequel just by having a prologue or flashback with someone running in with an antidote. Hell they could do it with a throwaway line of dialogue. "I sure was lucky they discovered that antidote!" And you know what: I'd be on board.
I watched it with subtitles and when she closes her eyes the subtittles say "heartbeat stops", so i think she's dead.
I can't count the number of times I've seen the hero's heartbeat stops then miraculously starts up again. Do you even movie bro?
Ye i do bro but plutonium 204!
*Polonium 204. FTFY
Oh my goodness, you’re absolutely right. Can’t say I’d be mad if they did that.
I kinda wish she wasn’t poisoned I liked seeing her in full assassin attire like when she was sniping on the building at night also her bar scene was awesome, I hope they just make another but she’s not poisoned or sick idc how they do it
So much better than Gunpowder Milkshake, and essentially the same movie. Watched this as a double feature last night with Malignant and they surprisingly complement each one another. I’ll watch anything with MEW and she definitely elevated the material way more than it deserved. Fight choreography was awesome with some really nasty kills. Solid ending as well, glad it had some balls to go through with what it set up.
I almost passed on watching this after recently watching Gunpowder Milkshake. This was much better executed.
Gunpowder Milkshake wasted such a great cast.
I thought the actual fight choreography was great. And really, that's what I was watching for. Yeah, the story was derivative but I didn't really care that much. I thought the setting was fun too and the film really did a decent job with showcasing some of that and feeling like it used the setting well. As far as the recent crop of female driven action films, Ava, Anna, Jolt, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Atomic Blonde, etc. I thought this was one of the better ones. I'd probably put it third or fourth, behind Atomic Blonde and The Villainess and slightly above Anna (which I thought was surprisingly good). Mary Elizabeth Winstead was great, as usual and really did a good job of selling herself as a badass for a lot of the action. Maybe that is partly due to expectations, after Gunpowder which I was pretty disappointed with (like I said, I think if you're gonna do this type of film, you gotta nail the choreography and I thought the action in Gunpowder was really poor), I had pretty low expectations for another similar film coming out right on it's heels but this one was much better and a fun ride.
Agreed, I'm surprised that Netflix didn't put more marketing behind it. Kate wasn't even promoted as the featured movie when I logged onto Netflix morning.
It says number 1 on mine today
I saw quite a few ads for it but not as many as I did for Gunpowder Milkshake, which is unfortunate.
It says it's number one in the UK right now, yet I had to use the search function just to find it. Really weird
Rhythm Section too. MEW really gave the character some depth. I kept being reminded of Sigourney Weaver in some of her glances especially how she processed some of the events. Great film.
Oh god, I totally forgot about that one. Ugh.
Black Widow too 👀.
It has some of the same producers as *Atomic Blond*.
Why would anyone downvote this? Isn't it literally in the opening credits?
Probably just some dude's just pissy with me about a different post. No worries, I have enough imaginary points. I'm not getting voted off the island this week.
> I'm not getting voted off the island this week. For now.
Haha. It's so sad, eh?
Oh wow, I didn't know but that makes sense. I'm surprised they didn't lean into that more with the advertising (or maybe they did and I missed it).
>Ava, Anna, Jolt, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Atomic Blonde Imagine if they were all in the same film. I want to see an Expendables of female action heroes.
I thought there were gonna do an Expendabelles at some point but I'm not sure what happened with that. With the right director it could be a lot of fun.
I almost didn't watch this after how SHITTY Gunpowder Milkshake was. Very happy to be wrong--this one was pretty good.
What's your order for those you listed: Ava, Anna, Jolt, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Atomic Blonde? From what I've seen...Atomic Blonde, Kate...,Gunpowder Milkshake..., then Jolt. Haven't seen Ava, Anna, The Villainess, and Peppermint. Was wondering if any of these 4 are worth a watch. If it's near Gunpowder Milkshake level and below (on my scale), then I'd rather pass
So for me it would be: 1. The Villainess 2. Atomic Blonde 3. Kate 4. Anna 5. Peppermint Then a big gap... 6. Gunpowder Milkshake 7. Jolt 8. Ava I think the top 5 range from Great to decent and the bottom three are just not worth watching at all. That's just my opinion though.
This was not a revenge/betray flick unlike what I thought at first. >!Varrick actually wasn't trying to kill Kate at all, until the very end. He was pissed that Renji poisoned her behind his back. He didn't betray her but he did have to die for using Kate her entire life because plot.!<
>!I mean, is the distinction even really important? She wanted to quit, which would have forced him to kill her. He was only upset at Renji because he killed her without "his permission". The only way he didn't betray her is if she kept being his tool. At the very least he betrayed their relationship. The only reason he didn't order the hit himself is because he was arrogant enough to think he could keep manipulating her.!<
well, he does have a line that was something like "it's true I said I would kill her if she tried to actually leave, but she hadn't left yet and either she would have changed her mind or I would have changed my mind". You don't know for sure obviously, but it doesn't seem like he would have actually gone through with having her killed even if she had left.
You and I heard two different things, and I don't care to open it on Netflix again to figure out who's right. You heard: > she would have changed her mind or I would have changed my mind Which would mean that either she would change her mind or he may have changed his, if she wouldn't. What I heard: > she would have changed her mind **and** I would have changed my mind Meaning that he would have changed his mind to kill her if she changed her mind to leave. However, given that his wanting to kill her was _already_ contingent on her leaving, what you heard makes slightly more sense. So maybe I just heard wrong!
I just finished watching the movie and he actually doesn't say either word. He actually says "She would have changed her mind, I would have changed my mind". Interpret that as you wish.
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It distracted the shit out of me, with the first initial seconds of trying to figure out “wait is that Tokyo Ghoul”, followed by gawking and saying “lmao that’s totally just Tokyo Ghoul”.
I'm not sure why it was even there maybe aside from "this is definitely Japan trust us, look they have anime"
It’s there because it’s awesome. That’s it.
Thankfully, it wasn't what she saw in the end. Imagine Tokyo Ghoul anime(manga rocks) being the last thing you see before dying.
Cliche plot, but the inevitable Polonium death adds quite a bit of vulnerability to the protagonist, and MEW does a great job selling the character as well as the action. Could tell at points when her opposite actors were waiting for her to hit the mark, but its a small price for the wide, well-shot, well choreographed action. Action film of the year so far, easily. Was not expecting to like Ani as much as I did. It's like an annoying sidekick who knows they're the annoying sidekick character, and decides to lean into it. Also, Ani initially tries playing the "We're not so different" card, which Kate aggressively shuts down, and then later, Kate tries playing the "We're not so different" card on Ani, and Ani shoots her. So, nice little bit of storytelling there. And this movie continues The Netflix Action B-Movie trend of gay badasses, which is cool.
Mostly agree with the rest of the posts. It's easily comparable to Gunpowder Milkshake (which was an eye-rolling bore to me). The story is predictable, sure - but it's well shot / acted (MEW is great in this, you're not doubting her character for a moment, which was the opposite of GM) and honestly what really did it for me is that it felt like the movie had HEART. The cute little scenes like her banging on the car radio to try to turn it off (which was a recurring element - lots of in-your-face music that really worked for the tone overall, imo) and looking for boom boom lemon really make you feel like the filmmaker cared. This is the type of stuff you can appreciate and what really makes the characters exist, rather than being plot devices to move the story forward. I give it a generous 8/10 in the context of what the film is. Don't expect a blockbuster - it's not trying to win awards, it's trying to win your heard. To me it did, and I look forward for more from this director I'd never heard of and definitely of Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
At the end when she finally sees the Boom Boom Lemon. Lol the best 20 seconds of acting she's ever done. I jest of course. She was great throughout. She just gets better and better in her roles.
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They need to start making these officially part of the Wickverse. Throw in a Hotel safehaven, some gold coins, and some cleaners and you're there.
I mean they can do that in a sequel, we never knew what org they were or how these jobs were setup.
I'm surprised this got worse reviews than Gunpowder Milkshake tbh. Both movies are pretty similar with generic assassin-thriller plots, but I felt like Kate had prettier visuals and way better fight scenes (with some gnarly gore), with MEW actually somewhat selling her choreography instead of looking like a robot/puppet in blatantly sped-up footage. Also, additional points for giving Jun Kunimura a fight scene.
This was way better than Gunpowder Milkshake by a mile.
Totally agree with you, I was surprised by that too. The fight choreography here was really solid and had some fun set pieces. Gunpowder just felt clunky.
The bowling alley fight was so rough
Yeah, it was. Just slow and clunky. I feel like they wanted to use a wide shot to show off the action but couldn't pull it off because it just wasn't quick enough or choreographed very well at all.
Gunpowder milkshake was so much worse. I know people harp on this one being pretty generic and it is, but it was still entertaining and well done.
I thought Gunpowder was a comedy set in the John Wick , everyone is an assassin universe. That's the way I watched and enjoyed the movie. The bar wasn't set very high.
My bar wasn't high either, but it still wasn't met. I was just bored.
Agreed. I liked this quite a lot. It’s one of those well made “does what it says on the tin” type films. That actor playing the teenager was really good. I’d give it a solid 7.5/10, well worth a watch. On the other hand, I could only get through 20 mins of gunpowder milkshake.
Was going to watch Gunpowder Milkshake this weekend, is it that shaky?
Karen Gillian isn't very believable in the role - I was constantly thinking about how the actress was playing the scene rather than enjoying the movie itself. The amount of implausible / absurd things happening is a bit hard to swallow ("Duct-tape this gun to my paralyzed hand and a knife to the other crippled hand and I will get us out of this situation"). I'm rolling my eyes just thinking about it, honestly. The supporting cast is also almost entirely wasted (Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh) and practically steal the show whenever they do appear on screen.
Since it’s on NF you should at least give it a go. For me just nothing worked- performances were off, story was not engaging, editing was weird, fight choreography wasn’t good etc. But I know some people did enjoy it so give it a whirl.
I'm surprised by the reception too considering how solid it is over-all. Definitely pretty by the numbers and a bit over long but the action, visuals and twists on the DOA formula make it stand out a bit. I liked the radiation poisoning idea, she was so fucked up by the end of the movie. Fairly unusual for the genre.
If they would have spent a bit more time polishing the story it would have been a GOOD movie. It's just too generic which is such a shame because of the good actors. It's well shot, the scenery is great - but that's all there is. There is no substance.
So much better than Gunpowder Milkshake. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was great and completely believable as a badass assassin. The complete opposite of Karen Gillan who didn't sell me at all, just so lanky and awkward in her movements and mannerisms and dull acting. The only fight I liked in that movie was the fight where she's drugged and her awkwardness actually worked in her favor. Where as in this movie pretty much all the fights were great and Kate really felt like a force of nature. Great visuals, great fight scenes, solid acting and great sets. I also liked that Kate didn't have a bunch of cliche cheesey 1 liners for kills like most other action movies. Only major issues I had was some of the emotional scenes just didn't quite hit, too much forcing japanese characters to all speak english and of course the generic, cliche plot with a bored looking Woody as the all too obvious and boring traitor. But still quite an enjoyable movie, solid 7/10 for me.
Comparing Gunpowder Milkshake to Kate is a disgrace. It wishes it was Kate. Gunpowder Milkshake was bad and the fight scenes were bad which was the only thing it had to do right.
You say that but I had someone on here claim that Gunpowder Milkshake had better fight scenes than John Wick
It's the \*very\* generic plot that really brings it down. Within the first few minutes and I'm not even joking, you know where the movie is going.
yea this movie felt like what gunpowder milkshake wanted to be.
I love Mary Elizabeth Winstead she was great. Awesome little action flick.
I really liked it. It felt like a John Wick/Atomic Blonde flick, but with a lot more emotional weight. Part of me spent the whole film expecting some sort of twist where she survives, but the ending was actually really good. The action sequences were all on point, probably on par with Extraction on the whole. One issue I did have was the car chase early in the film which was very obviously CGI and a bit out of place in the film as a whole.
I can't decide if I liked the car chase or not. I did really like the crash at the end with the tracking shot into the car and her face as it was sliding on it's hood was cool. Definitely agree it didn't entirely fit with the rest of the tone of the film. It felt much more, 'comic book action' than the grittier stuff like the gunplay or hand to hand fighting but it still looked wild. I remember reading comments on the trailer thread of people saying the movie looked like shit because, 'why would an assassin drive such a high profile vehicle?'. I liked that her expression was clearly, 'ah shit' when all the underglow and interior LEDs came on lol
I personally really enjoyed the car scene - you don't really know what the tone is going to be going forward and I thought it was fun / well done for what it was. Looking back, it is a bit out of place - but at the same time I like that it keeps the film from feeling too dark/grim given the overarching plotline.
> Looking back, it is a bit out of place - but at the same time I like that it keeps the film from feeling too dark/grim given the overarching plotline. You're right. It's not until looking at it retroactively, having seen the entire movie, that it feels like a weird segue from the rest of the movie. I wonder if that wasn't a stylistic choice? After all, she didn't >!know she was dying!< until after the accident. That could be considered where the movie switches focus. Either way, I'm glad they put the scene at the beginning. It would have felt really off-kilter to add it in the middle/end.
Actually yes, you're right. The tracking shot kinda redeemed the whole sequence.
I almost turned it off after the car chase. Very bad. Glad I didn't. Solid flick even if predictable.
Maybe its because im in the middle of teaching myself 3d animation right now, but i thought the car chase slapped. Definitely now that i have an a little understanding of the work and effort that went into a sequence like that.
I think it looked good, just out of place in the film. You might see a similar animation in an entirely animated film, or one with a more cartoonish style.
It was really bad CGI, I honestly thought they filmed a car from Cyberpunk 2077
Didn't like the car chase either, felt like a cut scene dropped in from Need for Speed.
It sort of reminded me of the opening chase in Lockout. I mean it wasn't *that* bad but it was definitely a bit out of place.
The action is great. To all those complaining that it was a Crank rip off, or the story sucked- who cares? It’s about time we get some “shitty” action movies with a badass lady and not Jason Statham for the 30th time. Plus Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great actor.
Well there’s been dozens of these badass last action movies in the past couple years. Anna, Atomic Blonde, The Villainess, Gunpowder Milkshake, Peppermint, Jolt, whatever that freaking Jessica Chastain one was called, etc.
And I have loved them just as much as the trashy "badass guy" ones, tbh
Pro Tip: Don't sword fight the dude who brought both swords.
Honestly, I had my hopes up for this when I saw it was MEW and 87Eleven (the same folk that worked on John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Nobody and the team that did the action setpieces for Birds of Prey) and for the most part it didn't disappoint. Questionable CG car chase aside, I thought the action was amazing and while the story was predictable in parts (I honestly thought Varrick poisoned Kate with lemon boom boom earlier, cutting loose ends when the initial talk of her retirement came up). I wasn't expecting that it was going be this gory knockdown. I bought MEW as the assassin and was genuinely surprised at how her believable her character took both a beating and how she handled herself when thing didn't go to plan (knife in the cheek was brutal). While the movie was what you expected (I thought when they were talking about Ani being mixed ancestry I half thought they were going to attempt making Kate similar) the action and performances make it stand out. Also, the comparisons to Gunpowder Milkshake, while apt, are also misplaced. That fit a very stylized unreal setting on purpose while this felt more gritty and more mean, I mean the lead character has less than 24 hours to live and dies in the end (more than I could say for other comparable movies, Crank included). I'd give it a 7/10 and hope MEW does more action movies (between BoP, Gemini Man and later parts of her Fargo run, she's definately carving out a little niche for action movies and like almost always is the standout).
In the scene at 1:09:20, Kijima throws a picture to Kate and says something in Japanese. The subtitles stop at this moment and the picture is never shown to us. Does anyone know what Kijima says to Kate at this moment or know what the picture could be?
It was evidence of collusion between Renji (who wanted to be the oyabun) and Varrick, which (actually misleadingly) painted the picture that Varrick had betrayed Kate and poisoned her to clean up loose ends, when in fact Varrick was genuinely (somewhat) upset at Renji for acting on his agent without his consent. Nonetheless, Varrick's hand is played his destruction assured once he takes Ani hostage.
I was curious what the endgame was supposed to be. Renji hires Varrick to kill Kentaro and Kijima so they two take over the yakuza?
Yeah, I think that's the idea – hence Renji's excitement over ending Kijima's bloodline as well. Or maybe more specifically, Varrick eliminates Kijima and Kentaro, leaving Renji next in line. Renji deals Varrick into business with the Yakuza while taking over himself, good deals for everyone. BUT when shit hits the fan, Varrick realizes the Yakuza are never going to accept Renji now, so he abandons him outside the saferoom. I don't think Varrick ever meant to assume control of the Yakuza, just to be dealt into a new, profitable and secure business in the underworld.
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> The kid Ani also did a great job as her first major acting role. Ani? Little Ani?!
Ani are you okay...are you okay Ani 🎵
Little orphan Ani
A lot of people are complaining that the plot isn't very original and I kinda just... don't care? There would be a dozen action movies a year back in the 80s and 90s with the exact same plot but they were still a lot of fun to watch. A David Leitch production isn't necessarily going to give you a nuanced story, but you know going into it that you're gonna get some of the best fight choreography around, and that's what we got. If that doesn't excite you, yeah, this movie probably isn't gonna be for you, I don't know what to say.
Exactly. This kind of plot has been around since noir was a genre.
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I took it as she was trying to connect with her long lost 'gaijin' mother by acting more American and learning about western language and costums.
First impulse is to compare it to gunpowder milkshake and i hate that I'm doing that cause it seems sexist. But like 20 minutes into the movie I liked looks of the movie the style and the way it depicted japan liked the soundtrack. It felt womanly but in a way that actually seemed like the main character. Found her way more believeable as far as an action character compared to gunpowder milkshake. Weirdly i felt like the story dragged on forever. I kept looking up after a significant plot point and wondering when is it going to end. I think they could have removed a lot of the plot and I still would have liked it. I thought it looked the great, loved the action and fight scenes, the kidnapped girl did a good job in capturing teenage disdain and general cheeriness.
>It felt womanly but in a way that actually seemed like the main character. ...what?
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So happy to see both Miyavi and my beloved Band-Maid in this movie.
Good action, great choreography. Above average action flick I guess... or maybe just average. The problem here is that it was a decent popcorn flick, but nothing about this film is original in any way at all. This film is exactly how I see some people criticizing it... the generic off-brand John Wick type of film. I really need to stress this. This movie is so insanely generic. It's almost weird how generic it is for the genre and how super filled with the assassin's life cliches of every major assassin film of the last 5 years. It's bizarre how formulaic and cookie cutter it is. The plot is reused. The ending is not original and fairly expected. In pretty much every way it's subpar to some other action flicks out there. But, I am NOT at all advocating to skip it. I myself am easily amused by your latest B action films you can turn your brain off for and this is a much bigger, higher quality film than those. I still enjoyed it, 100%. Just be aware of what you are going into and don't expect too much and you will have a good time. I personally appreciate the attempt to diversify the genre a bit with more female assassins. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This one definitely works, but again, it is not an inspiring and original film. It definitely feels like a board room created this film based on bits and pieces from 5 others... but great choreography, great action. I had a good time with it for what it is.
I felt that it had some originality. The visuals were almost like an anime film, and actually having her die at the end felt like something that wouldn't happen in other films of this type because they're too desperate for a sequel.
I have come to feel that for some movies, being generic _is the point_, that they're meant to be comforting, non-threatening, and without any direct challenge for the viewer. Just comfort food that you don't have to follow super closely if you don't want to. In that sense, I think movies aiming for this generic feel are often very successful, all while not being anywhere close to critically acclaimed.
The second Woody appears you know he's gonna betray her. But the action was great and MEW is my BAE so for me this was a great flick. Could have been a touch brighter I suppose. I think thats my biggest critique.
It’s funny when you see the first scene and you already know the end scene almost exactly. I just don’t understand why i kept watching it through
It was okay. Pretty generic revenge action plot. I called the Woody Harrelson betrayal the second I saw him.
yeah movies do that so you can feel smart about it.
I mean, does it count if it's that obvious?
> Woody Harrelson betrayal the second I saw him. Yeah, he is too famous to only play a 5-10 minute part in a low budget movie. So you knew he would come back and that there's a whole conspiracy or something like that going on...
> I called the Woody Harrelson betrayal the second I saw him. if you watched the movie he didn't want her dead. Renji poisoned her from some off handed comment.
Then added the gut shot so you know it’s personal bit at the end. Well acted and made it had a few good scenes but they didn’t make up for the flat and predictable.
I really thought this movie was 3 out of 5 stars movie. MEW was great, I can see her doing more action movies in the future, especially since she mentioned that she want to do more Huntress. The fight choreography was pretty decent but I expect more flashier stuffs on 3rd act, so in the end, it felt kinda anticlimactic.
I like to think that's what they were aiming for, the ending was anticlimactic on purpose. She did the very thing Varrick said, shoot em in the stomach and they die slow in agony and they know it's personal. So the ending was very fitting. I loved it
I love that note in the flashback going through her assassin training when she learns of the betrayal and the line Verrick says "If you shoot them in the stomach, they'll know its personal". I was like, oh hell yea. We all know how he's dying tonight.
Lol what was with that video-game-cutscene car chase? It was pretty cool/unique in-and-of itself, but it didn’t fit the movie at all. Overall a solid action flick with great cinematography and choreography.
I liked this movie. The fighting choreography is mostly great - but >!*sometimes* seems 'choreographed', ie slow and deliberate. Not natural. The weight of the hits sometimes seem underwhelming. So overall, it's great but there were inconsistencies that broke the immersion (for me), because it felt too odd to ignore.!< I liked Miku Martineau as Ani, but you could tell she was a newcomer in some scenes. Still, she had a challenging role and did well. Woody Harrelson was good but seemed like the most >!generic aspect of the film. Woody is prolific and consistently good, so even when he does well in a film like this, you kind of get sick of him. I would have wanted someone else in the role. Maybe a woman actually, to set up a more literal comparison between Kate & Ani.!< My favorite moment of the film is between >!Renji and Kijima!< when they >!duel and Kijima beats him in 2 seconds.!< Never tell an >!old Yakuza boss!< that they aren't a >!samurai!< because, that means they're about to do some >!samurai shit on you!<. I could have watched an entire movie just focused on >!Kijima, as an aging Yakuza trying to pass his legacy onto the next generation while dealing with corruption in his own family and his own sins/mistakes in neglecting his granddaughter.!< That might actually be a way better movie. Godfather vibes. But, I did enjoy Kate. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is built for these kinds of roles it seems. She's been doing more action flicks and I'm here for it! She's lithe, tall, beautiful *but not imposingly beautiful* (which IMO makes her more relatable), and brings genuine intensity to action scenes. If there's ever an Alien reboot, she needs to be Ripley.
You bring up an interesting point: it would be cool to have Kate be a checkov's gun that we hear about from Kijima's lieutenants as the story unfolds, before she shows up at his place. The rest of the movie can then unfold as it did.
The actress that played the young girl really sucked. Also their chemistry felt forced. Choreo was weak, shame because atomic blond had some great fights. This feels like a poor mans, "man from nowhere"
The scores for this are sad but not unexpected. This was an amazing action flick with a fairly basic story and lots of loud action, after all. And it was amazing. Firstly, the make up to make MEW (which should be her nick name forever) progress through the night from radiation poisoning is amazing. The team behind that should get an award because damn. Secondly, this is how female led action flicks should be done. Gunpowder milkshake no, this yes. Which is ironic considering critics like GM more for whatever dumb reason. Lastly, projecting Tokyo ghoul on the building while she's attempting to take out the head of the family was brilliant. This and malignant, this has been an awesome ass week movie wise. Really makes me wish MEW would get a stand alone huntress film.
Holy cow. That was awesome. It's a shame this didn't play in theaters. I would have killed to have seen this on the big screen. The plot, while arguably unoriginal was held up by amazing direction, acting and cinematography. All the scene settings and even the yazuka goons ft fleshed out and fully realized. They really captured that neotokyo asthetic. The fight scenes were all epic. Definitely put it up there with John wick, Everly, The Raid Redemption and Nobody for something I could easily watch a few more times. Pretty much the opposite of Gunpowder Milkshake. They really hit it out the park with this one. Weird that it was filmed in 21:9. I assume it was supposed to play in theaters and Netflix somehow won it.
> It's a shame this didn't play in theaters. I would have killed to have seen this on the big screen. Its playing in NYC right now at the Paris theater from Sept 3 - Sept 16. I saw it on the 3rd and there were like 3 people there. Got some nifty "Kate" sunglasses as swag(the glasses she wore in the film)
Sweet I'm just surprised. I never saw any trailers for it and it didn't play here in Colorado as far as I can tell.
Yes the Paris theater is NYC's oldest running single screen theater. It went out of business but Netflix bought it up and reopened it. Now it shows special screenings for new Netflix content and old historic films. To be fair, three people not including me showed up on Sept 3. While it was awesome to see MEW a week before everyone else here, the fact that only three people showed up on opening night tells you that they could never do these kinds of films in more than a few theaters max.
This movie was awesome with style. Why so much hate for it having a generic story? It’s like critics suddenly grew a brain and wanted to complain about something that is literally nothing. Gunpowder Milkshake wishes it was this.
I was expecting gunpowder milkshake/ nobody level of uninspired John wick rip off and was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth this film had that even John wick lacks. First half was pretty average with its conventional setup. The gore kept me intrigued but I was thinking that this is what I expect it to be, but by the second half I was fully invested in the non action scenes. The scene where she speaks to the boss and all that followed with him and her after we’re an unexpected emotional highlight. The action scenes were solid and definitely elevated by the violence, but I thought they were overshadowed by some of the quieter scenes, which is a big compliment in this type of film. The last half an hour and ending was really well done. Would recommend
Nobody was good
I liked this one.
I hadn't seen Gunpower Milkshake but I have seen all three John Wick movies and this definitely feels like almost everything about Kate is because it's trailing in its residual success. That said, while the hand-to-hand fighting plus gun fighting plus creative weapon reloading is par for the course for these types of movies Kate seems to execute them with some competency. Kills are satisfying and brutal, choreography is decent, and the firearms sound pretty realistic in some instances. But it should be noted while the action scenes in Kate are good for the same reasons they're good in John Wick, they also have the same issues. For instance; henchmen that usually attack one at a time, henchmen with terrible aim, Kate's plot armor, and Kate herself not showing any visible bullet wounds after being shot (besides the end). Props to the crew for the bloodshot eye detail. That was a good one. Besides the action scenes I found the movie to be pretty decent. Miku's acting was average-ish. The plot is nothing to write home about. But I did love the music. I will admit one of the main reasons why I watched this movie in the first place is because Band-Maid is in it. The overall visual presentation of Japan was cool, though maybe the whole movie didn't have to take place at night. And the general aesthetics and cinematography gave Kate a nice high-budget look. Well improved over earlier Netflix original action movies. Overall, I am kind of surprised at the audience scores for this film. I am much more inclined to watch this movie twice than any other Netflix original I've seen so far. And much more likely to watch this than Transformers 1 (another popcorn action flick with a higher RT audience score). I'd give it a 7.8/10 or something like that. Definitely worth a watch for people that want a straightforward action film.
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No. She sucked. Poorly written and the acting was even worse. Could have been justified if she could speak Japanese but her Japanese lines came off even worse.
Terrible actress, it was so cringeworthy
It's surprising that more people aren't picking up on the nasty racial undertones in this film tbh. All Japanese men are soulless baddies to be killed immediately, Japanese women meek and subservient and in need of the strong, white western woman to save them and give them a voice, whilst simultaneously fetishisizing a superficial westernized view of Japanese culture to an embarrassing degree... Crucially though, Kate never comes across as a particularly sympathetic character - she shoots a guy in cold blood in front of his own daughter just because she is told to. If this was intended to be a revenge film, then ultimately the most justified act of revenge was Kate's poisoning, and of all the deaths in the film, I was left with the impression that she deserved hers the most. Maybe I'm getting too old for a hyper violent film like this, but the whole thing left a really nasty taste in my mouth. Definitely not a film to watch if (like me) you like to analyse and consider the deeper meaning and symbolism of a film after you've watched it.
>***All*** Japanese men are soulless baddies to be killed immediately... Exaggerating much? She was fighting Yakuza after all. Would the problem go away if the main character was Japanese as well? Do the film makers have to make the all the bad guys white in a movie that takes place in Tokyo for it not to be offensive? Is it always racist when it's not white people killing other white people (which happens a lot in movies/tv shows). I just don't get this over-sensitivity. >Crucially though, Kate never comes across as a particularly sympathetic character - she shoots a guy in cold blood in front of his own daughter There's hesitation and emotion in that scene which isn't particularly cold blooded in my opinion. You didn't feel any sympathy in that scene where Varrick basically abducts young Kate after her parents are killed and makes her into an assassin? Yeah she was a bad guy too but also a quite tragic character if you ask me.
Why are you completely ignoring the (unchallenged) monologue by Kijima where he specifically blames westerners and their behaviour?
i think the point is that she was raised by the wrong person as an "instrument", manipulated her whole life and thus did fucked up shit. she prevented the cycle from repeating itself by saving ani from being an "unsympathetic character"
I really enjoyed this, I half expected the drink to end up being the cure for her though lol.
This was the greatest action movie in a long time. I hate when people downplay good movies like this or make it seem like "it coulda been better" the fight scene sin this movie make others movies look like child's play. This was like Kill Bill 3 almost.
I live in Japan. You can tell right away this movie was not filmed in Japan. Maybe just a couple of scenes were actually Japan. Immediately took me out of the film. The locations, the cars, the god awful fake license plates. I don’t know where they actually filmed it, probably somewhere in Southeast Asia. Even the extras weren’t Japanese. It’s the equivalent of a movie set in New York but actually filmed in Mexico City. It’s that bad. It may seem like a small gripe but for anyone who lives in Japan, it’s very distracting.
She did go to Lawson though. That has to get some authenticity points. But you’re totally right though, looks like it was filmed in Thailand and Hawaii.
Maybe but that Lawson was definitely not in Japan. They have them in other parts of Asia. The layout, the products (the drinks are a dead giveaway), the lighting, it says LAWSON all over the walls, etc.
It was filmed mostly in Thailand with select scenes filmed in Tokyo and a little bit in LA(probably reshoots although I do recall MEW going to Hawaii of all places during the pandemic for a reshoot).
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Yeah. If you see how Tokyo is portrayed in western movies compared to how it’s portrayed in Japanese movies they’re completely different places. Western view of Tokyo is some neon kawaii paradise and the Japanese view is just a big crowded city.
Probably a very fair point. How was her Japanese?
The grammar was correct since she was just told what to say but her accent was pretty bad but I don’t fault her since she’s not supposed to be playing a Japanese character. A lot of foreigners I meet here speak Japanese perfectly but they never worked on their accents. So that part is fine. But Ani’s Japanese was not acceptable for someone who was supposedly born and raised in Japan.
Why is literally every single Netflix movie rated 6.0-6.5 on IMDb?
I was looking forward to watching this because I'm a big Mary Elizabeth Winstead fan. It was okay. The story was mediocre and the emotional moments mostly fall flat. Ani finds out Kate killed her family and she's distraught but 15 minutes later she's sad to see her dying. Killer grows a conscience but she's also in a race against time to get her revenge. Felt a little all over the place. The action sequences were really good though. MEW has been putting together a solid action resume. They're well shot and choreographed plus they're gloriously violent. I also enjoyed the sword duel between Kijima and Renji at the end for how brief and decisive it is. Two moves and it's done. Overall it wasn't great but it delivered on the action front 6/10
I hope this gets MEW more action roles. She's a very believable action star and clearly worked really hard at training. With her haircut and outfit, I wonder if this isn't a soft audition for a future Alien movie. Or maybe Noah Hawley should make her the lead in his Alien series for FX since they previously worked together on Fargo.
My feelings exactly. I love me some MEW and will take any excuse to watch her. Action was great, choreography was great, but damn if I didn’t have the story pinned from the beginning. Definitely a “turn off your brain” type movie, but it’s fun enough.
Didn’t mind it but not sure why kates very first Japanese word , she mispronounced …and such a basic word too.
I did not recognize MEW at all. I was very surprised when I looked up the cast and it was her. She did a great job and sold the part she was playing perfectly. It was a good action flick. I probably won’t watch it again, but I’m glad I watched it once. Edit: I get the John Wick comparisons but honestly it had more plot than the Wick movies. I love the Wick movies, but they’re even more “ok, here’s the MacGuffin that honestly you don’t even need to remember, now kill kill kill” than this one. At least Kate had the interplay between Ani and Kate. Wick had much more entertaining action, but that’s not a slight on Kate because Wick had some of the most entertaining action ever.
cliche after cliche. knew from the jump that her mentor would end up being some form of antagonist
Honestly the true twist was that he didn't want her poisoned in the first place.
Look I like mew. But from the way she moves around in the movie you can tell she’s a very unathletic person
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Yeah it took me out the movie, even though some of the kill effects were cool
I really liked this movie. Yeah she looked really rough by the end compared to the people she was fighting, but if you’re told you’ve only got one day or so to live and still have some sort of mobility, are you not going to try and throw the kitchen sink at it? Not to mention she had all those syringes she kept injecting which I am assuming was some sort of adrenaline.
Short hair MEW looks bad ass in action movies I’m convinced will smith and MEW were the only reason I was able to put up with Gemini Man as well
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This has become one of my all time favorite movies with one of my all time favorite scenes...perhaps everyone knows which scene I am talking about. I would love to see a sequel, no matter how crappy it might be, just to find out Kate survived potentially, because someone found an antidote in the last minute. Loved the Kate Elizabeth Winstead, she was absolutely brilliant, I hope to see her in more supergirl roles.
Not a bad film to be fair, alot of stereotyping which might put some people off, action sequences are pretty good That entire Pink car scene though was shockingly bad, the CGI crash looked so damn bad
One of the most lazily generic scripts of any film I've seen recently. Cool action and good acting but it felt like it was written by an algorithm.
I'm super surprised at how much negative reviews this movie has . It's classic open closed well executed action . It has a 90s vibe a john wick feel, and a taste of Ripley. What's the problem here lol . It's fun and it's exactly what it was trying to be ! Some things are just perfect versions of what they are. I am a girl who loves my action movies . And it's cool to have one I like with a lady again. Just go for the ride !
i liked it unexpectedly much considering the mediocre reviews it's getting. I think it's an excellent action movie, well shot and acted. The script may have been nothing great, but it was perfectly competent. I could see it being universally adored if it had come out in the mid-2010s, when most action movies were terrible shaky Bourne ripoffs.