Kate Review: Netflix Action Movie Can’t Be Saved By Mary Elizabeth Winston
Within the action genre, there are a lot of movies that revolve around one main character – extremely a current or former murderer – going on a goal with determination to see it through for whatever reason. In Kate, the filmmakers put a spin on that trope by arranging the tale so that the main personality only has a day to live and must complete her mission within that time frame. The film is directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (The Huntsman: Winter’s War) from a script by Umair Aleem (Extraction), with John Wick co-director David Leitch fulfilling as one of Kate’s producers. Kate has some decently fun action, despite certain trite directorial choices, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead fulfilling as the movie’s major bright spot.
The film attends a murderer named Kate (Winstead), who is forced by her handlers to kill a man in front of his daughter. Ten months later when she’s still attempting to get over the incident, she tells her handler Varrick (Woody Harrelson) that she wants to retire from being an assassin after breaking off her next job. However, something goes bad when Kate is meant to kill Yakuza leader Kijima (Jun Kunimura), declining and waking up in the hospital. She learns she’s been poisoned with radioactive material and only has 24 hours to live. Determined to track down and kill the man accountable, Kate ends up assisting the young daughter of the man she killed previously, the teenaged Ani (Miku Martineau). With Ani’s help as her health deteriorates, Kate sets out to avenge her murder.
At its heart, Kate is a mixture of well-worn action movie tropes. The main virtue is a girl who’s been raised to be an assassin by a father figure whose own morality is questionable, and whose life is upended as she’s sent on a mission she throws herself into it with irrational abandon. The result is, unfortunately, Kate feeling like an amalgamation of other important action movies – such as Leitch’s films John Wick and Atomic Blonde – instead of its own thing. Bit there is some fun action, it doesn’t necessarily feel fresh or sensational, especially as Nicolas-Troyan employs certain (and extremely overused) camera tricks, like having blood splatter on the camera (a favourite of directors when 3D movies first became popular).
Perhaps the rawest and compelling facet of Kate is Winstead’s dynamic with newcomer Martineau. However a jaded as well assassin/action hero teaming up with a fresh-faced and naïve youngster is another trope of the movie genre, the actors bring enough personality and allure to the unlikely friendship to sustain the film. The connection comes off a little underdeveloped due to the restraints of the article, with Aleem’s storey plodding along through predictable plot beats, action set pieces and the periodic moment of character development. In addition to Winstead and Martineau, Harrelson is a delight as Varrick, while Kunimura brings an exceptional gravitas to the movie. All told, Kate assembled a talented cast, but they’re kneecapped by the underwhelming script.
Ultimately, Kate is a fine watch for enthusiasts of action movies, Winstead, or anyone particularly eager in the movie’s premise. While it doesn’t certainly reinvent the genre or provide an imaginative take on action-thrillers, it’s entertaining enough to sustain viewers through the movie’s hour and 46-minute runtime. However, it’s also not a crucial watch, and those who haven’t been intrigued by the premise or the trailers focused on Winstead are certainly fine to forget this particular movie.
Like many of Netflix’s original films, Kate feels like another release that had likely to be good but falls well short of the mark. So, like Netflix’s other films, spectators can check out Kate if they’ve run out of other things to watch, but it accomplishes feel destined to evolve one of the streamer’s viral hits.