Movie Review: Atomic Blonde's 80-20 Rule

80% style and action, 20% story.  This really is a beautifully made movie and it was a blast to watch – exactly once.  It captures the style and feel and sound of certain aspects of 1989 right down to the rivets in the leather boots and the black-and-white striped table lamps.  For that, it's worth a watch.  The acting is impeccable as well.  The studio paid for a first-rate cast (Theron, Goodman, etc.) and in return got first-rate performances.

Where the movie stumbles is on the story line.  "Completely disjointed plot" is not the same as "filled with surprise twists that keep you mentally engaged."  It is enough to move things along however, if you're not a stickler for some logical progression of events, and by the end of the movie things get wrapped up in ways that somewhat make sense.  This is by no means a failure, but it could have been so much more.

Let's wrap this one up with a bottom line appraisal of 2-1/2 stars out of 4.  But to take this review a step further, call it 3 out of 4 for a first watching, and maybe 2 out of 4 for subsequent views (which will for me be a long time in the future, if ever).  It was fun to re-visit some aspects of 1989 and remember the hope, possibilities, and hot blondes of that time period, but without a coherent story to carry things it ultimately amounts to very little.