A French spy and potential love interest named Delphine ( Sofia Boutella) challenges Lorraine, but even she is initially untrustworthy since she employs the same used car salesman 'trust me' tactics as Lorraine's counterparts (the first time they meet, Delphine offers to 'rescue' Lorraine). Then she meets British spy David Percival ( James McAvoy), who is disillusioned with his low status on the espionage totem pole and doesn’t seem too invested in helping a British informant known as Spyglass ( Eddie Marsan) to flee Berlin. First she is ambushed by a group of Stasi officers who pose as her contacts. As a woman, she has to be on guard at all times, because she enters every situation knowing that everyone wants to proposition and/or take advantage of her. At every step, she meets people who openly deceive her or who are theoretically on her side but seem as if they’re out to get her. Lorraine's status quo is chilliness, a foundational state of being whose necessity is confirmed with almost every interaction. That dream/flashback suggests a personal dimension to Lorraine's quest that is thankfully never foregrounded. Lorraine has personal ties to the spy whose death and betrayal leads to her arrival in Berlin, even if those ties are thankfully only mentioned once during a flashback. She consequently addresses every situation tactically rather than emotionally. To get the job done, she has to enter every situation numb to the human connections she makes in order to (primarily) survive and also to save the lives of her colleagues. But what’s important here is the spy work and its consequences for Lorraine. Historically speaking, we know how the story ends. The story is set during the first week of November, 1989, days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Theron also makes you want to dig into the meaning of a film whose amped-up '80s soundtrack-everything from Nena's '99 Luftaballons' to New Order's 'Blue Monday”-announces “Atomic Blonde” as a knowing act of role-playing. You may watch 'Atomic Blonde' because it's from the co-director of ' John Wick,' but you should see it for Theron. She also makes you believe that her character isn't just another James Bond clone. Theron grounds the film whenever it threatens to become a smarter-than-thou, hyper-convoluted slog.

Her take-no-bull body language and calculating stare give her character an intelligence and prove she's the right person for the job. Theron's commanding performance is remarkable.

Atomic blonde vf