Kate: Colourful and violent actioner has very little to offer

Kate is one of those movies that has enough visual flair and quick-cut editing along with many brutal hand to hand combat sequences to keep you from ever losing your attention from the screen but by the end, you are forced to grapple with the question of "what was the point of any of that? Why did I waste my time with that? is that it?! "

This actioner follows our title character (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) Who has been trained her entire life to be a cold-hearted assassin by her handler Varrick (Woody Harelson) Where are her real parents or how she came to be placed in this man's possession is never explained. One day when executing a hit in Tokyo, the daughter of the man targeted for execution becomes a witness to Kate's assassination and as a result, his death leaves the young girl traumatised. Upset by this ordeal, she finally wants out of the firm and 10 months later, the day of her final mission is finally afoot.

However as soon she's about to pull the trigger on her final target, she feels immense pain around her body and as a result, the mission goes haywire. When trying to evade police in a stolen car, she crashes and ends up in the hospital where they confirm that she's suffering from Acute radiation poisoning and has no more than a day to live. The race is now on to find out who poised her, first, she interrogates a man with who she had a one night stand before the hit (Michael Huisman) which then leads her to the toughest gangsters in all of Japan, The Yazuka, killing armies of thugs to get to the man she wants and with the help choppy editing and storytelling, she concludes that the man who poisoned her Kajima (Jun Kunimura) is the brother of the man who she hit 10 month's ago and is now looking for revenge. Who better to use as a bargaining chip than Ani (Miku Martineau) the daughter of the very same man she killed.

I dare not spoil this very intricate, well thought out and definitely not at all predictable at every turn plot but suffice to say that if you have ever seen any action movies in the past 30-40 year's then chances are you will already be 10 steps ahead of the main character before she's even past the first.

The movie is not without its high points, Director Cedric Nicholas-Troyan a former visual effects artist utilises the neon colours of Japan to make for a very pretty and pleasing-looking film and while not without being choppy in certain areas, he doe's a decent job in providing gravitas in the fight scenes. making sure that every hit and punch is felt. It helps that he allows Kate herself to be vulnerable in these scenes, Not only because of her deteriorating body but because she doesn't have an advantage in terms of physical strength with the men she fights and the only reason she's able to take them down is through her ingenuity combined with years of tough training from her handler. It's nice to have a so-called action hero not be the type of action hero who easily takes down every opponent with a single punch and it's a role that Mary Elizabeth Winstead clearly showed a lot of dedication to. I have no complaint about her effort's here, (or any of the cast for that matter) if there was another reason to give her a Huntress movie then this is it.

Where the movie falls apart is everywhere else. As mentioned earlier the plot is derivative which isn't always a bad thing. Taking something already existing and doing your own spin on it is something I always admire. No matter if it's a cover of an existing song or in this case a typical revenge narrative, but like with everything, it's the execution that matter's and it's unfortunately, Kate's biggest failing. While there are attempts to add element's to make it feel different none of them are given any room to breathe or be fleshed out further. For example, it's established very briefly that Kate had breast cancer and as a result had to undergo a double mastectomy. This is an element that is at the very least offering something that we haven't really seen before in a generic action movie and could offer a different dimension to a character who we've known to not take sh*t from anyone but nothing about this or how it affected the main character is explored further, as by that point we are already back to BANG BANG, Punch, kick and knife in the throat!!!

The same applies to Ani, the girl Kate takes under her wing who is also an orphan as a result of Kate's actions. The movie tells us the emotions she's felt due to becoming fatherless and being raised in a family of vicious gangsters but the movie never properly lets those emotions be felt. The same can also be said for the relationship between the two. The movie wants us to feel as if they've grown so much together as well as feel bad for when she inevitably finds out what Kate did to her father but nothing about this conflict or dynamic is properly earned. This maybe could be in large part to the film's editing as scenes feel often feel rushed as if they are missing certain bit's and pieces and as a result, nothing feels fleshed out. I often complain about films not fleshing thing's out enough and I'm not saying that simplicity is always a bad thing. If anything it can be beneficial to a movie. But sometimes I need a bit more to sink my teeth otherwise you are just repeating the same story over and over again but with very little in the way of substance.

Had the movie swapped protagonists and just focused on Ani and her experiences with the Yazuka, and forced to live a life in the middle of an immense power struggle between her family while Kate is the wounded assassin who gives her the opportunity to live a life without fear of being assassinated by a sniper, this would not only be at the very least an interesting character study and a twist on a typical revenge tale but it would provide newcomer Martineau (who for her first major film, does a pretty decent job) more to do, but instead, the movie all culminates in one shallow and unsatisfying experience. the ending especially which tries to go for the dramatics is too abrupt and feels like it's missing an epilogue. Almost as if the filmmakers want it to be done as quickly as possible so the audience doesn't feel like their patience is being tested.

The movie has a few unintentionally funny moment's which I can't say all as this review will go on for too long so I'll settle for highlight's, one of which includes when Kate snatches a pistol from a guard's holster when escaping from the hospital. The way in which she snatches the gun under the guise of accidentally bumping into him while dressed as a nurse wouldn't even fool anyone with half a brain cell. The second is when the film blatantly rips off Gary Oldman's famous "EVERYONE" line from Leon the Professional without any shred of irony. The last involves a series of product placements that Kate always make sure to take before every new assignment. I can't tell if the film offices in Japan demanded that this product be featured in the film in order to allow them to film in their country or if the writer is just a big fan of the drink, either one wouldn't surprise me.

Also, this complaint isn't exclusive to this movie but with others of its sort but doesn't it seem counterintuitive to kill a trained assassin with poison that only gives them a day to live instead of a simple bullet to the head? This would at the very least save the possibility of said assassin finding out who poised them before spending their last day's on earth to try and kill you.

Kate is a movie that showed a lot of dedication behind and in front of the camera but the proceedings are completely lacklustre, when the movie isn't brutal, it's a very dreary viewing and it takes itself too seriously to ever be campy. Just watch the trailer or read the synopsis and you will get a good idea of what you're getting into before you press play.

Rating: ⭐⭐

Kate is available on Netflix now.