The Sunday Mail
Film Review
Tinashe Kusema
NETFLIX’S latest action thriller “Kate” may not be the most original film but it comes loaded with valuable lessons.
For instance, it proves that revenge movies can be quite entertaining when done right.
Also, Japan comes out as one of the most underrated movie settings in the world.
Importantly, the movie shows that Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a great future ahead of her.
Over the years, I have enjoyed most of her (Winstead) movies, with “Scott Pilgrim vs the World” and “Live Free or Die Hard” being my favourites.
However, she did not really get time to shine in either one of them, as she was forced to play second fiddle to the likes of Michael Cera and Bruce Willis.
Likewise, her reasonable performance in “Birds of Prey” appeared to be a fluke.
It is not every day that an average actress comes that close to outshining Margot Robbie, especially operating under her Harley Quinn moniker.
I feel Winstead has all makings of a leading lady, carrying trunk loads of presence, charisma and great comic timing in almost every movie she is in.
I just cannot wait for her big break, though it has taken long.
Back to “Kate”.
Much like “Birds of Prey”, the action thriller is another film that has a great premise and loads of promise, but ultimately fails to deliver.
Its only saving grace is another top-tier performance from Winstead, among a handful of other things.
Winstead stars as Kate, an expert assassin and sniper, who after a job in Osaka, Japan, informs her handler Varrick (Woody Harrelson) that she wants to quit.
This comes after she breaks one of her rules and kills the younger brother of a Yakuza boss Kijima (Jun Kunimura) in front of his teenage daughter Ani (Miku Martineau).
A deal is struck, in which she must see her job through and kill Kijima, who is a reclusive and very secretive man.
Unfortunately, when the opportunity to kill her mark presents itself, she fails and also finds out that she has been poisoned.
Now, left with only 24 hours to live, Kate goes on a manhunt for Kijima, assuming he is responsible for poisoning her as revenge for killing his brother.
The manhunt also sees her cross paths with a now-damaged Ani, who turns out to be her best lead in tracking down Kijima.
The action is average at best, with the choreography coming off as lazy and forced at times.
However, the young Canadian actress, Martineau (Ani), demonstrates great chemistry with Winstead (Kate).
When she is not screaming her lines or swearing like someone with a gun held to her head, watching her relationship with Winstead’s Kate character grow is one of the few highlights of the movie.
And it is for this reason that I am giving her a pass.
The other film-saving aspects include the cinematography, which helps paint Japan as a great setting for this movie.
The great music by Nathan Barr helps mask the film’s weaknesses in action and fight categories.
Who knew Japanese hip-hop was this great?
But, while Winstead is a good actress, especially on effortlessly switching emotions, she still needs some work in the more physical aspects of the job.
It was best on display during the whole ‘bow and arrow’ gag in “Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn” and pops up here and there in “Kate”.
Woody Harrelson also deserves special mention.
His act was just there!
The movie also has a couple of interesting twists.
