MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the death of a fellow agent and to retrieve a list of undercover operatives before it gets into the wrong hands. Unable to trust anyone in a world of secrets and double crosses she must navigate her way through the treacherous landscape

This is a film oozing style and filled with breathtaking action scenes. Agent Broughton is introduced to us in an ice bath, battered and bruised. She is an ice queen up until the moments she explodes into action, matching the Bourne’s and Wick’s of this world for inventive defense and clinical head shots. Atomic Blonde is directed by David Leitch, co director of the first John Wick and his history of stunt work and framing are on display here in spades. An action scene set on the stairs of an apartment block is frankly so good it makes this film worth watching on the strength of it alone. Seemingly one cut (it isn’t) we are thrown directly into the wince inducing action and see the consequences and pain first hand.

It is not just in the action sequences that the film impresses. The 80’s soundtrack fits perfectly, Theron’s outfits are exquisite and the supporting cast work well. James McAvoy and Sofia Boutella are Allied operatives also in Berlin whilst John Goodman and Toby Jones are the suits debriefing Broughton in a flashback structure. None of whom feel completely trustworthy as befitting a Cold War film.

So far so good, but there is a flaw. The actual plot and reason for being there is rather weak. The list of names plot device feels pulled from the original Mission Impossible and unlike in that film there never seems to be too much peril about what would happen should it fall in the wrong hands. So whilst the reason for us being in Berlin never feels totally gripping, everything else is.

Style over substance maybe, but what style!