Charlize Theron is here to kick ass in Atomic Blonde and she does, and does it well.

Based on the graphic novel The Coldest City, Atomic Blonde is a spy-thriller that features some solid stunt and fight work, the majority of which Theron, much like Keanu Reeves for John Wick did as much of as she could.

Theron is Lorraine Broughton a MI6 agent, who has been brought in for debriefing by Eric Gray (Toby Jones) of MI6 and a CIA chief, Kurzfeld (John Goodman) following the events of her latest mission in Berlin. Set in 1989, just days before the Wall came down she was sent to recover a list of agents that can’t be allowed to get out into the open after the agent who was carrying it ended up dead.

She also had a romantic past with him.

She’s told to touch base with David Percival (James McAvoy) their man in Berlin. He seems to have gone native a bit, and East Germany feels a little like the Wild West with countless agencies at work there, and all of them from the KGB to MI6 to the French Secret Service want to get their hands on the list, hopefully to track down a double agent known only as Satchel.

When the list is destroyed the only person with the information is codenamed Spyglass (Eddie Marsan) and it’s her job to get him out of Berlin.

But it isn’t going to be easy, and things are going to get very violent and bloody very quickly.

The film also includes performances from Sofia Boutella, Til Schweiger, and Bill Skarsgard, all of whom layer out the film with its neon-drenched, 80s-soaked soundtrack just right.

Atomic Blonde ends up being a tightly crafted spy thriller that requires the audience to follow along as there are crosses and double-crosses even as bullets and fists are flying. Theron looks fantastic throughout the film and makes the shouldering of the action sequences look easy, if brutal. The fight sequences are solid, and while not as smooth feeling as those in John Wick (which director Leitch helped direct), they look brutal and intense, and Theron owns them.

The 80s soundtrack rocks and a number of songs are used in unique ways to serve as a counterpoint to the violence playing out on the screen. The pacing, the way the narrative plays out, the production design, all of it works great, and I love a good spy thriller like this, especially with as many action sequences as this one has layered into it.

It also has a very wry sense of humour.

Theron was amazing, and honestly, I would love to see her in more ass-kicking roles like this and Fury Road because she does it fantastically. Charlize Theron remains capital-A Awesome!