Kate Movie Review: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Is A Ruthless Killer On Netflix Find Out Watch or Not?

Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan

Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jun Kunimura, Woody Harrelson

Platform: Netflix

Ratings: 3/5 (three stars)

A professional assassin is hunted for breaking a code due to a higher order. This harassment occurs on two scales: the personal, because it torments her, and the professional, because it will be sought out by the affected family because of that old decision. Then, ‘Kate’ begins a fight against time and different situations to try to solve the pending before dying. Although this brief synopsis may be familiar from other stories, in the case of the film directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, the following should not be ruled out: it is likely to become another Netflix hit.

Wear a pair of Onitsuka Tiger as Kill Bill’s bride, Kate’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead. However, they are not the now iconic yellow and black ones, but a more conventional white, red and blue. And so, as we will explain in the Kate movie review, the action film directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan available in streaming on Netflix from 10 September, we are facing a revenge movie, the story of a lethal and lonely girl against everyone, which certainly does not have the bright colors of a Quentin Tarantino film, but colors – metaphorically, not literally speaking – more conventional and obvious. Kate is an action movie like many others, which doesn’t add much to the genre, to be seen and forgotten quickly.

Kate Movie Review: The Story

We are in Osaka, Japan: a man and a woman are waiting to take action. Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), an infallible sniper, points her rifle at the intended victim. It fires. But, next to the victim, there is a little girl, who is shocked by the shot. 10 months after that murder we find ourselves in a sprawling, nocturnal Tokyo. Kate talks to her mentor (Woody Harrelson). Shortly after we find her in a bar, struggling with a meeting and then a night of casual sex. That same night he receives a message on his smartphone. It is his next assignment, perhaps his last, on Roppongi Tower. Kate is there. Takes aim but misses the shot. Shortly thereafter, she discovers that she has been poisoned with a radioactive substance, in that one occasional encounter. It has only 24 hours to live. But she must find out who wanted her dead.

The Review

Kate’s face and heart, is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the eclectic actress we saw in the role of dancer in Dancing for a Dream, but also in the world of Die Hard (with two films, Die Hard – A good day to die and Die Hard: Year One, and in that of Quentin Tarantino (Grindhouse – Death Proof), as well as in the curious film 10 Cloverfield Lane, and in the recent The Suicide Squad – Mission Suicide. There is always something alienating and fascinating when we see girls with sweet faces, as a child, immerse yourself in the role of ruthless killer. Here Mary Elizabeth Winstead wants to prove, more and more, that she is a versatile and credible actress in any role. The sweetness in the face remains and gives a certain sensitivity and soul to a character who is muscles and killer instinct. Before kicking off the action dances, the camera often dwells on that face.

Disposable Entertainment

But they are only quiet moments before the storm. Kate’s action is powerful and brutal, punctuated by the notes, unprecedented for us, of Japanese rock and pop, which ensure a curious tone to the fights. Kate is a violent, nocturnal film, colored by the pink and blue neon lights of Tokyo clubs. It is an adrenaline-pumping film, on the line of many of the films that Netflix offers today, which are pure entertainment, pure action, disposable products to be consumed quickly.

Kate Is A Déjà Vu

Kate thrives on a race against time, on the suspense that comes from having counted hours. It is the descent into hell of those who have nothing to lose. It is a film that, in its own way, is monotonous in its development. Although there is a deception to be discovered, although there is a life in danger, and then two, when Ani (Miku Martineau) enters the scene, the girl that Kate takes with her as a hostage, the film fails to build the right tension, fails to create interest in continuing the vision. But above all, it does not add much to other portraits of killer women told with a very different imagination and intuition. A movie like Kate isn’t asked to be Kill Bill, but it looks like a bad copy of certain Luc Besson stories, like Nikita and Lucy , or other well-made films like Salt or Blonde Atomic . In short, Kate seems to us a rather predictable and conventional film.

Female Solidarity

Then remain the interpretation of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the moments in which Woody Harrelson is on stage, and the relationship that is created between Kate and Ani, the Japanese girl initially chosen as a hostage, but destined to somehow enter her. heart. Perhaps because, having never met his mother, he is basically a bit like her. In this sisterhood, in this female solidarity, one of the key themes of cinema in recent years, in this sense of protection, there is perhaps the heart of the film, the most interesting thing.

Kate Movie Review: The Final Words

As we told you in Kate’s review, we are facing a revenge movie with rather conventional and obvious developments. Kate is a female action movie like many others, which doesn’t add much to the genre, to be seen and forgotten quickly. The film is not good as we expected but it will do you timepass.

What Worked

• The interpretation of Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Woody Harrelson.
• The relationship that is created between Kate and the young Ani.
• The fights mounted on Japanese rock and pop music.

What Didn’t Worked

• The film never manages to create the right tension and does not push the viewer to take an interest in the story.
• And most importantly, it doesn’t add much to other female action revenge movies.
• Throughout the film it seems to witness a continuous déjà vu.