Having built his reputation as a top-tier stunt performer and action director, David Leitch made his feature-length debut from behind the camera on John Wick alongside longtime collaborator Chad Stahelski, before the duo went their separate ways as filmmakers. Staying in the action area, Leitch decided to fly solo, recruit one of the industry’s finest ass-kickers, and bludgeon audiences with the fantastic Atomic Blonde.
Adapted from graphic novel The Coldest City, the no-frills slice of old-fashioned genre fun played to the strengths of both key creatives. As the conflicted Lorraine Broughton, Academy Award winner Charlize Theron was able to add depth to her performance when she wasn’t decimating hordes of henchmen, while Leitch was free to indulge in lengthy set pieces that refreshingly relied on longer takes without rapid-fire editing, and more practical effects than CGI.
The end result netted warm reviews from critics and audiences, $100 million at the box office on a $30 million budget, and an in-development sequel at Netflix that we’ve heard absolutely nothing about since it was first announced two years ago. Theron even teased that she wanted a John Wick crossover, which is an evil thing to say when it’s highly unlikely we’ll get to see it.
Nevertheless, Atomic Blonde has been snapping necks and cashing checks on a rival streaming service this week, with FlixPatrol revealing the neon-dripping 1980s tale of deception and double-crossing has been leaving behind a trail of destruction on the Prime Video global viewership rankings. Now, once The Old Guard 2 is done, can we please get that second chapter from Netflix?