There is nothing original about director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s (“Maleficent,” “The Huntsman: Winter’s War”) new action thriller “Kate.” It's an amalgamation of previous films like “John Wick,” “Crank,” “Atomic Blonde,” and many many more. Having David Leitch as a producer certainly lends some authenticity to everything, and it delivers just enough ballistic action and a killer lead performance to be worth your time.
Kate, played with full bodied gusto by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” “Birds of Prey”) is dying. After a hit gone wrong, she’s been poisoned and has 24 hours to find and kill those responsible. Throw in an older and wiser mentor figure, played by Woody Harrelson (“Zombieland,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), and a young smartass Kate’s forced to drag along, played by newcomer Miku Martineau, and you have “Kate.”
Writer Umair Aleem (“Extraction (2015)”) doesn’t inject the plot with anything particularly new. Rather, the smaller character moments and details are what give the film its sense of personality. The neon-drenched nights of Tokyo are a great backdrop to watch Winstead deliver the film’s one liners and, despite some serious Yakuza depictions thrown in, the plot just exists to get us from one action sequence to another.
Not that Winstead isn’t giving it her all. Every scene that passes, she becomes progressively more covered in blood, sweat, wounds, and viscera. It's the kind of full bodied performance you know she must’ve had an absolute blast with and it shows. Despite being a blank slate on paper, most of the memorability and personality of Kate comes from Winstead herself.
Miku Martineau isn’t as strong of a presence, but given this is her first film role, it's easy to give her a pass. She develops some great rapport with Winstead by the film’s end, and their friendship is the heart of the film. She just takes too long to progress from an annoyance to a friend of Kate’s.
Harrelson isn’t much to write home about. He’s fine and serves the purpose of the role, but doesn’t add anything. Meanwhile, Jun Kunimura (“The Naked Director,” “The Wailing”) is a highlight. His all too brief presence is a wonderful performance as Yakuza boss Kijima. He’s clearly taking the role very seriously, never letting a smile crack or mugging to the camera for a moment.
The action is going to be what people watch “Kate” for, and despite a slow start, once Kate is poisoned, then all bets are off. Debris flies everywhere, as does blood and viscera, and everytime someone dies while a neon Japanese character dances outside a window or a K-pop song plays over the radio is a wonderful tonal juggling act.
Winstead, as stated, is getting the absolute shit kicked out of herself for the entirety of the film, and this makes each hit land a bit harder. Like Leitch’s other films, it's clear Nicolas-Troyan knows that the action is automatically made better when it's clear the hero is getting hurt too.
“Kate” is a fine afternoon distraction. Is a blood soaked popcorn movie with a killer lead performance and some delightful action. Not much else is under the hood, but there doesn’t need to be. It's clearly inspired by neon-soaked Japanese Yakuza films, and that does lend it an interesting palette, giving “Kate” a bit more memorability than it otherwise would have if it was just a well-executed action flick. 3.5/5
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