Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is an assassin operating in Japan. Spooked by a job that involved her killing a target in front of their daughter she decides her career is over. One last job and she is out. Whilst on this job she discovers she has been given a lethal dose of poison and has one day to avenge her own death. 

Kate is an absolutely brutal action movie. Our titular anti-hero is dosed with a lethal amount of radiation and spends the majority of the film falling apart. In between giving herself adrenaline shots to keep functioning she vomits, bleeds and loses teeth as her body capitulates to the poison. It’s so painful to watch I almost felt like being sick myself. Then there are the fight scenes. Kate may be falling apart but her will to live just long enough to get to her goal has her shooting, stabbing and slicing her way there with whatever is to hand. The scenes are violent and well shot. The end result is not for the feint hearted. 

The Japanese setting is perhaps more of a character in the film than the actual characters. The neon skyscrapers and traditional buildings are a change of pace from most American film settings whilst the Japanese soundtrack plays a big part in the frenetic action. 

The characters themselves are mostly ciphers. Kate has one rule, “no kids” and that is clearly formed from her own childhood experience. So the film offers her some redemption in Ani (Miku Patricia Martineau), a yakuza teenager who she can try to save as if it was her younger self. Whilst Woody Harrelson’s handler Varrick acts as a father figure. This odd family unit unfortunately does not give the film as much heart as perhaps it needs given how brutal it is elsewhere. One thing for sure though is that Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a bad ass and looks cool doing it. 

If Kate had a little more heart and soul I think it would have been an absolute belter of an action flick. As it is, it’s a solid if slightly unsatisfying watch.