I’ve watched some action movies recently and here’s a rundown.

Atomic Blonde– An action movie with a female lead! We don’t get many of these. The great Charlize Theron plays MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton. During the Cold War, she assigned the job of going into Berlin to recover a list of double agents. James McAvoy co-stars as David Percival, a fellow agent tasked to assist Lorraine. It goes wrong right from the start where Lorraine is ambushed by the enemy right when she gets to Berlin.

Starting off, I felt Atomic Blonde was a paint by the numbers action movie. While that’s pretty true to the end, I found the beginning to be mostly dull. It gets much better as it goes a long. Once things come together and the last 35 minutes hit, the movie really takes off. While there is excellent action scenes throughout, that final chase scene that spans a large part of the city and is presented as one single shot is some riveting cinema. Director David Leitch has an extensive stuntman/stunt coordinator career and it shows here. John Wick was his breakthrough director gig and that launched him directly into this and the upcoming Deadpool 2. He knows how to frame action and move the camera well so action is impactful, believable, and easy to follow. Impressive work that’s getting him bigger gig, I think this is just the start of Leitch becoming a big name in Hollywood.

Baby Driver– I like Edgar Wright as a director a lot. The planning that goes into his films to make them edit the way he wants is often stunning. Baby Driver is a simple story that uses car stunts as it’s main action focus. With most franchises focusing on gun and fist fights, it’s refreshing to see a throwback to the classic days of action cinema. I’m sure you’re thinking the Fast and Furious franchise is all about vehicular set pieces but they ignore the laws of physics and CG everything to get it done. Baby Driver does it au naturel with on set stunt driving. Often remarkable to watch and the heavy integration of music to lead the way makes it even more fun.

Baby has been forced to work as the getaway driver for a crime boss (Doc) after they crossed paths many years ago. Baby is the only driver Doc has used as he’s got a 100% success rate. Everyone he first meets thinks Baby is weird and amateurish for listening to music all the time, but it’s what helps him cope with his tinnitus. Each job gets Baby a little closer to paying off his debt to Doc until his final heist ruins his plans. Add in a boy meets girl scenario and you’ve got a neat protagonist with a heart of gold. Baby Driver keeps things tight and simple and I think it’s all the better for it.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle– When the Golden Circle crime syndicate makes it move to hold the world hostage with poison, they destroy the Kingsman agency first to keep anyone from stopping them. Fortunately for the world, they don’t kill them all and the remaining Kingsman agents go to America to get help from an allied spy agency called Statesman.

Matthew Vaughn, much like Edgar Wright, is a kinetic director. The camera gets you into the middle of he action, flinging you head over heels each throw and explosion. I like much of his work but this one left me wanting something more. I liked the first Kingsman a lot as it was new and took me surprise. I love the spy genre and I’m all about new takes and spins on the staple elements. This movie resurrects a character in the middle of saving the world so there’s a bit of a family reunion in there. While Golden Circle expands the Kingsman universe, it still feels closed in to me. I think it’s all the CG. It’s (clearly) all over the place and very distancing in the end. Sure it’s used to make wild and unique action set pieces but there’s rarely a sense of danger in what’s going on. It’s a very similar the problem I have with the Fast and Furious movies. A saving the world plot is rather mundane these days too. Even though I think the hook they come up with is a good one, maybe keeping the scope smaller would have helped? I thought I’d end up liking this more than I did. While I did enjoy it, I prefer the original more and I’d recommend watching Atomic Blonde and Baby Driver over this.

The Fate of the Furious– Eight installments! That’s how far this franchise has come and every time they need to come up with a decent reason to get the band together. This time Dom switches sides when a mysterious woman shows up to blackmail him into a terrorist plot. It’s an idea that gets Dom back on the other side of the fence and makes his friends not just work to foil The Big Bad but a friend as well. A good dynamic to make a fun enough sequel. This one was a little more reserved in terms of making the impossible possible but still retains that bombastic and fantastical Xtremeness that fans show up for. As the credits rolled I said to myself, “Yes that was another Fast and Furious movie” and I think that’s all most people ask for. For myself, this franchise has turned into a kind of Friday the 13th where all the movies blur together and I can’t remember what moment is from what movie. The one story that does stick out to me is the 5th, which I think is head and shoulders above the rest.