Kate: A Neon-Soaked Thriller with a Familiar Feel
Kate, a highly skilled assassin portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, is preparing for her next assignment under the guidance of her mentor, Varick (Woody Harrelson). Her mission: eliminate a prominent figure in the Tokyo underworld. However, moments before taking the shot, she spots his daughter nearby. Kate’s cardinal rule is to never involve children in her deadly work, but she’s forced to make the fatal shot in front of the teenage girl. Ten months later, haunted by the event, she decides to leave the profession. On her final mission, she’s unexpectedly poisoned with radiation, leaving her with only 24 hours to uncover who wants her dead.
Mari Yamamoto as Kanako in “Kate”
Explosive Action, Familiar Territory
With David Leitch, the mastermind behind “Atomic Blonde” starring Charlize Theron, among the producers, one might expect similar vibes. However, don’t anticipate the same spark between characters or a compelling plot. The Netflix film shares little with the 2017 spy thriller beyond the neon-drenched visuals, which are more indicative of Tokyo’s vibrant atmosphere, and a charismatic lead.
Winstead embodies Kate as a fearless but weary woman, single-handedly taking on a horde of men while craving her favorite lemon soda. She carries the film, but frankly, she’s given little to work with. In a series of repetitive shootouts, Kate navigates challenges, much like in a monotonous video game, to uncover a truth that’s obvious to the audience from the start.
An Unlikely Partnership
Kate’s “journey” is accompanied by Ani, the daughter of her victim. The two quickly become partners, both feeling useless and left with nothing. This setup hints at a “Leon”-esque dynamic, but unfortunately, there’s no chemistry or well-developed Stockholm syndrome to be found. The audience barely connects with the characters before they’re ready to face their enemies together.
To its credit, Kate and Ani are the only female protagonists in a film where a group of men in dark glasses underestimate them as typical villains. Whether this was an attempt to inject a critique of patriarchy is unclear, as the plot unfolds with predictable clichés, making any original ideas feel out of place.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Kate
Missed Opportunities
The feminist message isn’t the only hesitant attempt by the writers to address something significant. The film briefly touches on Western interference in the Eastern world. Members of the Japanese mafia wisely reflect on the naive attempts of Westerners to understand and integrate into their foreign reality. But here too, where the creators needed to push harder and be bolder, they retreat to weak plot lines and relentless gunfire.
A Formulaic Friday Night Flick
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s “Kate” is a serviceable option for a casual Friday night, fulfilling its purpose as background entertainment but not offering anything memorable enough to recommend to friends. You don’t need to be an expert in the assassin subgenre to experience a constant sense of déjà vu with every shot and every grandiose line about family. The film consists of so many familiar ingredients that it sometimes feels like the script could have been written by artificial intelligence. If there were an algorithm that could analyze action movies about revenge-seeking killers and produce something average, it would likely result in “Kate.”