Lorraine and Delphine

Atomic Blonde, a spy movie set in the time Germany finally brought down that East Great Wall! An Agent is sent into Germany to retrieve the body of a fellow agent and the secret for which he was killed! That agent is Lorraine, Charlize’s character.

With that short syn out of the way, let me start over again.

After what has been a really crappy last few days, I just had to get the happy back in my life and cinema usually does the trick. Hey, I don’t have the Unlimited Card for nothing! And to those who don’t know, that is a pass to watch any movie you want for only the price of two regular movies a month, or in the case of iMAX, the price of only one movie ticket! Of course I never get the time to watch that many but I do watch enough to justify the membership.

So, with all these not so nice days…fine, if you wanna know, first Gypsy got cancelled! That’s right, Netflix cancelled yet another great show! Like, we will never know now what was actually going on with the two, if they actually have feelings for one another or if this wasn’t just a game to them and they are to end up together!

Now take that and add on the things that have been going on in the CBM world, really, I should say the DCEU as only fans will know what I am talking about. Anyway, I needed to get my happy back so I looked at the Cineworld app for something, having been a while since I went and not knowing what’s on.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that Atomic Blonde was on iMAX! Being the first movie in the list (by alphabet) I did not waste a second booking a ticket for it! After that, I found that there were four movies that needed watching that I had not yet. And so yesterday and today I spent in the cinema!

Atomic Blonde is the only one worth talking about here so lets do that!

Okay, is it just me or has 2017 been quite the year! Now take that and add on Atomic Blonde, a movie that is almost after my own heart! I live yuri, I breathe it, it gives me life, but next to that I love action in movies too and what did Atomic Blonde have? Both!!

First there is Charlize Theron as Lorraine, our blonde heroine! Nowhere in the movie is it suggested at all that she was bi, or interested in girls at all. In fact, the agent that was killed she was involved with him and we never see her entertain any closet thoughts, well, unless you count S&M! But this is getting into point two territory. What I wanted to talk about here is the action side of things!

This movie is brutal! And by that, I mean the action! The fights are not farfetched! They are real! Lorraine uses her environment to take on the guys who are superior to her physically! She gets her ass handed to her as expected and despite being the main character and thus you know she is safe, you cannot help but cringe whenever she gets hit! It is so brutal! These are the kinds of fights you expect from Thai action movies or closer to home, Zack Snyder movies (I still cringe in that Superman/Batman fight every time I watch it).

My mind was almost on the money when I thought of it as a Jane Wick movie! Almost, because there was a bit more realism to it than John Wick! Despite John Wick being more graphic, with the blood splatter and everything, the damage take in those movies were surreal! But here, despite the lack of blood where you expect it to be, the damage is real! The character act as one would after taking a certain beating!

In addition to feeling real, the fights were very well choreographed! They knew how a fight between a man and a woman should go and they did the most they could to truthfully represent it. Actually, the progress, unless it was in the script, the progress could be seen from the start of the movie towards the end! The fights get better as the movie progresses. Where I did not think of the first fights as anything great, towards the back end of the movie I was in awe!

But you all did not come here for the action! I did not go to see this movie just for the action either. Were that the case, I think I would have waited for the home release! No, we are here for the supposed yuri between Charlize Theron and Sofia Boutella’s characters.

As I was beginning to rumble on earlier, I think that Sofia’s character, Delphine, also an agent, but a green horn (just her first time in the field), was Lorraine’s first girl crush. That alone is worth a thousand Amens but then you realise too that in addition to that, she is the one relationship of Lorraine’s that we get to see! But that is not all, Lorraine is in a really shitty period in her life! She seemingly has nothing! No family, no relationships, she almost addicted to drugs (her drawers are filled with medication), takes baths filled with ice cubes (even when she is not injured), basically her life is shit!

But then you get to see her with Delphine and she is normal! She is just a normal woman, going to work, coming home and spending a happy time with her lover. Telling her stories of her day in bed as they cuddle!

Oh Jesus dear Readers, this was so not the relationship I was expecting when I walked into this movie! With Delphine, it is also the first time you see Lorraine in a photo with someone she loves! Before her there was nothing of that sort! In fact one can say that Lorraine did not actually live until she met Delphine!

Oh, OH! We have to talk about the sex scenes too! That’s right! If this movie is in your theatres, you better go watch it before the weekend is over! I don’t care if you have to go party with your shills, tell them you are not feeling well or something and grab yourself a ticket because you are going to want to watch this on the big screen!

Let me just put it this way, I haven’t had a sex scene hit me this unprepared since The Handmaiden!

Go back and read that sentence again!

Done? No, you aren’t dreaming, I just mentioned my all-time favourite movie in relation to Atomic Blonde. On the topic of sex scenes, I might add! Yes, this is a highly rated movie! Not as high as The Handmaiden’s 18 (first movie I have seen here in Irish cinemas with that high a rating), but a rating of 16, usually the highest you will see, means you are in for a ride!

First of all let’s just think of the actresses in this movie. This is Charlize Theron and Sofia Boutella we are talking about here! Charlize Theron!!!! These two had raw sex on the big screen! I don’t even…Even as the first time, the very first time you see Charlize on screen, you actually get to see her nipples, even with that I was not expecting that sex scene! Really, to tell the truth I was not expecting any sex scenes! No, I would go as far as to say, I was not looking forward to any sex scenes!

This is of course because of what I saw in the trailers in regard to Delphine’s fate! I was ready to forget about this movie because I am not a fan of movies that bury our gays! And so I tried to not get attached, let alone have expectations of Delphine! But it was all for naught! I fell in love with her the moment she and Lorraine shared a scene! And no, it absolutely has nothing to do with that dress she was wearing, you hear me!!!

Going into the movie I expected her to be a spy, which she was, to get close to Lorraine only to betray her, which she half did, hers and Lorraine’s relationship to be a fake out and to get killed off while on bad terms with Lorraine!

Matter of Fact, Delphine died! But I am not out for blood so stop fuming! I actually almost want to thank the trailers for spoiling her death because I was prepared for it! But it was not just because of the trailers, this was that kind of world! If a veteran agent like Lorraine barely got away with her life, the chances of Delphine surviving, especially given this case she was involved in, the chances were never in her favour!

But that does not mean that I would be okay with it just on that principle! No, I let it go because of how she was used in the story! I already mentioned how she affected Lorraine’s personal life but also in regards to the movie’s story and Lorraine’s business life, she also helped her there, even as she was going to die! Delphine was not a throwaway character, far from it!

And in regards to Lorraine having her first taste of that fruit with Delphine, I don’t think that Delphine too went into this looking for things to go as far as they went! I think it was business at first and then it actually turned into something real. But then you have to wonder, if it was business at first, she must have had an inkling that Lorraine would fall for her seductive antics (even if they failed – you know in what regards I mean). So, not so sure that Lorraine did not have a past we did not know about but even if there was, the writers sure went out of their way to not let us know of anything. At least linger on a photo in her home or something!

I really am glad that this movie will have a wider showing (if it is in iMAX it means it is big enough) because I want Lorraine/Delphine to be appreciated! Seriously, they were such a sweet unexpected change and their relationship brought a contrast to the world they were living in that you know even the director wanted them to shine and probably feels really bad he had to off Delphine! It was as if he put in that line from Lorraine as a reminder of the deed he had done –

“You did not have to kill her”

At the very least Lorraine got to experience what life means. Sure it was a moment’s happiness but isn’t that what happiness really is? And really, given her life, those few moments meant much more to her! She will cherish them forever and whenever things go bad again, she will thing of those moments and that will keep her going! It was moments but moments were what she needed. Some do not get the chance to have that! Think of the other main character’s life David (James McAvoy)! How miserable was his life! Sure he seemed to live for the moment but what was it worth in the end? Was it true happiness?

And this is turning into a mess of words so I will stop here.

See ya around people!