Kate

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Kate follows an assassin who is poisoned on the brink of her retirement; leading to a 24 hour hunt for vengeance upon those who targeted her. This film is a wild thing to watch with a lot of key aspects coming together to craft something stunning. Kate is a protagonist you'll find really easy to connect with, she's quite a capable fighter and markswoman but more than that you relate strongly to her rage. Kate is pushed by this fury that her chance at living a normal life has been snatched away from her, and as this film goes on we come to understand the anger cuts deeper. This is a woman who has been pushed to her assassin lifestyle since she was a kid, she never got to live a life that was free of violence or taking orders. Seeing Kate channel her retribution into something just was a wonderful character journey that is gripping throughout. The stunt work makes this a highly intense action feature with a number of well-choreographed and gory fights. I found this to be an inspired film visually, something that really surprised me. The cinematography here highlights a neon pop-punk depiction of Japanese culture and imagery, marking for an exquisite colour palette that is absolutely stunning. The score for the film is almost akin to that of a dystopian film, you feel on edge and desperate whenever those tracks pick up. At the same time the soundtrack kicks in with these high energy Japanese songs that make for some fun action sequences.

 

Woody Harrelson, who played Varrick, had such great onscreen chemistry with Winstead as her father figure/handler; the measured way his role discussed assassination contracts contrasted nicely with the angered outbursts we see at his ally compromising Kate. Jun Kunimura, who played Kijima, is quite a calm and wise figure for the head of a Yakuza family; Kunimura's portrayal of affection for his family along with a quietly intense display of power makes him a bit of a scene stealer.

However, the best performance came from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who played title character: Kate. This is the sort of film that really only works if you have a class act front and centre for the feature, Winstead is that in spades. At the start of the feature Kate is a character with a nice, charismatic relationship with her handler, Harrelson's Varrick. Yet after a hit on a target goes poorly Winstead plays to the trauma of the incident, we see a woman who is deeply disconnected with the life she lives and who yearns for something normal. But from here Kate's poisoning brings forth something intense and furious, she is consumed by rage and a need for revenge. Seeing Kate's intense ambitions and murderous intentions change into something more noble is one of the finer strokes in this film. Winstead does a phenomenal job at showing the realisation her entire life has been stolen from her and her crusade becomes something more honourable as a result. If you aren't moved by the death of Kate by the end of this feature I'd be very surprised; Winstead truly brought the A game.

This is a feature that tries a trick a lot of action films are doing these days, pairing the hero with a young child to bring forth their moral compass. I think this really works wonders in some cases but of late I'm seeing a lot more that aren't achieving their purpose. In this film it's really hard to believe in the relationship that is forming between Kate and Ani, because Ani is such a talkative and abrasive role she doesn't ever really pair well with Kate. This leads to a significant slump in the second act during which the focus is significantly upon this duo. This is also not the film to watch if you're in the mood to be surprised, the betrayal from Varrick and Kate's ultimate demise are events that you can expect from the very first act. The editing for the film had a tendency to linger, dragging the pace in moments that weren't brimming with action.

Miku Patricia Martineau, who played Ani, really doesn't gel well with Winstead onscreen; Martineau really plays to the more annoying aspects of her role's personality and it is never believable she has grown up a child of a Yakuza boss. Tadanobu Asano, who played Renji, is a major letdown as the secondary antagonist of the feature; he never commands a scene and often falls in the shadow of either Harrelson or Kunimura.

A highly stylistic action film with a praiseworthy leading performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead. I would give Kate a 7.5/10.