'Kate' A Review

Kate is an action/thriller about the eponymous assassin Kate(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who after a series of jobs targeting high ranking officers in a Yakuza family is slipped a deadly poison, after discovering she only has one day left to live she sets out on revenge.

Winstead shoulders the movie with little effort, she's got presence and physical alacrity, but the script lets her down. There is simply not enough information to really know or care about the character, there are a couple of montages of her training and past jobs but not enough to get any clarity on the character. Woody Harrelson is Varrick Kate's handler/mentor, but he's got very limited screentime and the dynamic is really only hinted at never actually flushed out. There are also some big name Japanese actors who are equally underutilized primarily Tadanobu Asano and Jun Kunimura(although he gets two exceptionally great scenes, the first is mostly expositional, the second where he faces off against Asano's character which despite the movie's overwhelming mediocrity is one of the best of the year).

Visually slick, clearly shot actually in Japan which is a plus, overall decent production design but there is a sameness to it, a rushed quality, presumably the budget was limited and the shooting schedule was even more so, which is why its such a disappointment, because there's clearly a lot of potential, a lot of talent involved.

The latest in the recent series of female killer flicks(Gunpowder Milkshake, Jolt) although none have yet to quite hit the mark.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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