It’s unfortunate that this trailer opens with a slow track on Charlize Theron’s notable bod, but it does emphasize the beating that body can deliver as her character Agent Lorraine Broughton kicks ass across Berlin.
While somewhat objectifying, I’d say the cinematic ogling of Theron is about on par with Daniel Craig’s 007. Everyone falls in love or into bed with her, but Broughton is no honeypot operative. Her lists of skills include “escape and evasion”, “intelligence collection” and, of course, “hand-to-hand combat.”
According to SlashFilm, Atomic Blonde is based on Antony Johnston’s graphic novel The Coldest Winter. Broughton is tasked with finding out who is killing her fellow agents during the volatile time preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall. Theron trained hard for the role and told Entertainment Weekly that it was as painful as it looks:
“Let’s be honest, I got my ass handed to me every day,” Theron says of the intense training.“I cracked through two of my teeth in the back of my mouth from clenching so much that I had to have massive dental surgery right before we left for Budapest to shoot the film.”
I go to the movies to distract my stupid brain, and there’s nothing like well-choreographed, bone-crunching fight scenes to take my mind off things. I’m tired of watching men beat each other up. If we can’t have a slick, shaken-but-not-stirred Jane Bond, this is a very happy compromise.
