Kate (2021)
September 10, 2021 8:25 PM - Subscribe
An assassin has 24 hours to get vengeance on her murderer before she dies. (Netflix)
Yeah, I was uncomfortable with that aspect of the movie, and wondering how much of that was artistic statement/general homage to 80s aesthetics, and how much of it was unintended self-own.
Movie was also way more graphically violent than I was expecting. Thought the Black Lizard piece had some great cinematography, tho. Feel like a lot of the establishing shots could've come off a comic page.
posted by curious nu at 5:41 PM on September 11, 2021
Movie was also way more graphically violent than I was expecting. Thought the Black Lizard piece had some great cinematography, tho. Feel like a lot of the establishing shots could've come off a comic page.
posted by curious nu at 5:41 PM on September 11, 2021
I enjoyed watching this even if it didn’t live up to the inevitable comparisons to John Wick and Atomic Blonde. I feel like the movie hamstrung itself by casting a very charismatic actress in the lead but rarely letting her be charismatic. See Fargo Season 3 for an example of Mary Elizabeth Winstead going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge without having to adopt Wick-like stoicism.
Still, a fun watch, and to me surprisingly touching in the scene in the cab when Ani is trying to mold Kate into a mother figure, while Kate withholds what she did to Ani, but Kate eventually passes out onto Ani’s shoulder, letting Ani take a few selfies of them together. Not as obvious as killing a dog but still heartbreaking.
Also: Least surprising betrayal ever.
posted by ejs at 8:52 PM on September 11, 2021 [3 favorites]
Still, a fun watch, and to me surprisingly touching in the scene in the cab when Ani is trying to mold Kate into a mother figure, while Kate withholds what she did to Ani, but Kate eventually passes out onto Ani’s shoulder, letting Ani take a few selfies of them together. Not as obvious as killing a dog but still heartbreaking.
Also: Least surprising betrayal ever.
posted by ejs at 8:52 PM on September 11, 2021 [3 favorites]
I really wanted to like it, having a crush on Winstead.
Pleasing enough, but it felt algorithmically generated and lacked much of its own character.
Yes to the comic book look and feel, and it even had a bit of a throwback to high contrast comic book movies before the grimdark era, a little like 'Gunpowder Milkshake,' but didn't really stick with it.
Don't know why the CG looks a little off, perhaps a consequence of the availability of the same now-genericised animation/ rendering tools and cookie-cutter developmental studios?
posted by porpoise at 9:07 AM on September 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Pleasing enough, but it felt algorithmically generated and lacked much of its own character.
Yes to the comic book look and feel, and it even had a bit of a throwback to high contrast comic book movies before the grimdark era, a little like 'Gunpowder Milkshake,' but didn't really stick with it.
Don't know why the CG looks a little off, perhaps a consequence of the availability of the same now-genericised animation/ rendering tools and cookie-cutter developmental studios?
posted by porpoise at 9:07 AM on September 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
The plot was generic, but I enjoyed everything else about.
Especially MEW's performance. Her physically was excellent.
Two examples:
When she finally see her favorite drink
The attitude when she's walking into the building near the end.
posted by KaizenSoze at 3:08 PM on September 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Especially MEW's performance. Her physically was excellent.
Two examples:
When she finally see her favorite drink
The attitude when she's walking into the building near the end.
posted by KaizenSoze at 3:08 PM on September 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Great soundtrack.
Winstead brought a good deal of depth to the character, which kept the story interesting enough. I caught some definite Blade Runner vibes in some of the scenes on nighttime rooftops and what sounded like Vangelis-ish tones playing.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:20 PM on September 13, 2021
Winstead brought a good deal of depth to the character, which kept the story interesting enough. I caught some definite Blade Runner vibes in some of the scenes on nighttime rooftops and what sounded like Vangelis-ish tones playing.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:20 PM on September 13, 2021
My standards are not super high. I enjoyed it! I liked that they didn’t wimp out on the premise.
posted by prefpara at 6:46 PM on September 13, 2021
posted by prefpara at 6:46 PM on September 13, 2021
I like MEW a lot but she was not a very good action star in this.
I had to pause the movie near what I thought was the end, but then there was 35 minutes left, and my SO and I just screamed in agony for a few seconds. It's a pretty excruciating 35 minutes too.
The thing that made me lose it a bit is when Ani reveals that the big secret hideout where Kijima is hiding is just a house in a city, a nice house that this incredibly big and influential crime family just all grew up in, their family home, but the movie's like nobody knows this is here and I was like no a million fucking people know where that fucking house is, movie.
I'd add Crank to the pile of influences. One way this reminded me of John Wick tho is that the writer seems to have fallen in love with his stupid generic mob shit.
posted by fleacircus at 11:10 PM on September 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I had to pause the movie near what I thought was the end, but then there was 35 minutes left, and my SO and I just screamed in agony for a few seconds. It's a pretty excruciating 35 minutes too.
The thing that made me lose it a bit is when Ani reveals that the big secret hideout where Kijima is hiding is just a house in a city, a nice house that this incredibly big and influential crime family just all grew up in, their family home, but the movie's like nobody knows this is here and I was like no a million fucking people know where that fucking house is, movie.
I'd add Crank to the pile of influences. One way this reminded me of John Wick tho is that the writer seems to have fallen in love with his stupid generic mob shit.
posted by fleacircus at 11:10 PM on September 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I like MEW a lot but she was not a very good action star in this.
I dunno. I liked her take on an action star. She was much more along the lines of a real person who, while having mad skillz, was also believably flesh-and-blood and showed the fatigue, damage, pain, etc. that a mortal human would sustain. She played the damage she suffered, and that brought a bit of humanity to what is normally played as a super-human character.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:01 AM on September 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I dunno. I liked her take on an action star. She was much more along the lines of a real person who, while having mad skillz, was also believably flesh-and-blood and showed the fatigue, damage, pain, etc. that a mortal human would sustain. She played the damage she suffered, and that brought a bit of humanity to what is normally played as a super-human character.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:01 AM on September 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
As an action movie, I thought it was solid. But something about "white person in Japan goes on murder spree and kills a bunch of Japanese henchmen" is icky. Why not just have the assassin be Japanese? And was it ever explained why Harrelson and Winstead's characters are in Japan at all? It makes no sense.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:49 PM on September 18, 2021
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:49 PM on September 18, 2021
> Also: Least surprising betrayal ever.
I glanced at the poster, and I expected it, before I started watching the movie.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:44 PM on September 19, 2021
I glanced at the poster, and I expected it, before I started watching the movie.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:44 PM on September 19, 2021
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posted by axiom at 4:28 PM on September 11, 2021 [1 favorite]