There are people I never really expect to end up as protagonists in violent action films … people like Meg Ryan, John Mulaney, Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera, John Oliver, anyone with the last name of Kardashian… there was a time when Mary Elizabeth Winstead might have been on such a list. That time has passed. The cinematic #MeToo movement doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, and in many ways it seems to be getting stronger. Mary Elizabeth Winstead will always be Ramona Flowers in my mind; but damn if ten years later, she couldn’t be the title character instead of Scott Pilgrim.
Part of me is sad that Mary Elizabeth Winstead seems so much more grown up now, but I can’t fault the woman for wanting to enhance her career. Following the path trodden so recently by Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence and others, Mary seems to have put on about twenty pounds of badass for this role as Kate, a lonely li’l kickassassin Japan [read: kick-ass assassin in Japan]. Straight out the box, Kate knifes two bodyguards and then coolly slays a CEO right in front of his teenage daughter. For the record, Kate didn’t like the part that the teenage daughter was present; she lets her handler, V (Woody Harrelson), hear all about it.
Within minutes, the tale of a lonely foreign hitwoman evolves into a D.O.A. remake: Kate is poisoned with Polonium 204 –where does one obtain Polonium 204 and how do you slip it into a mixed drink without
the aid of centrifuge? The poison gives Kate about 24 hours to get her affairs in order, and she decide her affairs involve figuring out who ordered the hit on her and returning the favor. And it ain’t that easy, cuz the big fish in Japan rarely surface.
Is Mary Elizabeth Winstead a believable hitter? Oh yes. I don’t think they let women have these roles without proving a certain athleticism and martial artistic preparation for them – I think it’s much easier to find a male actor half-assing his preparation. Is the tale a little one-sided? Yes. It will immediately remind one of the Kate Beckinsale film, Jolt. Different premise, but it amounts to the same—a single woman dicing up bad guys on a mission to get to an invulnerable boss.
So forgive me if I’ve seen this before … the badass heroine thing is much stronger post #MeToo, but that doesn’t make it not played out by now. Damn if Kate didn’t have the next best “white girl bloodily disposing of henchmen in a Japanese tea house” scene ever. Like I said, this is good stuff, and I’m so happy to see Ramona planting opponents six feet below the Flowers, but that still doesn’t mean this material is new in any way. I’m gonna need a little originality before I rave indefinitely.
An assassin finds providence insane
When Polonium has breached her membrane
Sorry about that, bud
Such toxicity in your blood
It’s sadly possible that you will die in vein
Rated R, 106 Minutes
Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Writer: Umair Aleem
Genre: Don’t say “KILL BILL” … don’t say “KILL BILL” …
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of Yakuza
