But she’s handily upstaged the moment a character with an actual personality shows up - Jojima, a yakuza hitman played with rock star élan by real-life rock star Miyavi. A late scene in which she struts into a lobby, sneering behind enormous sunglasses, a dangling cigarette and layers upon layers of blood and bruises, feels like ideal GIF fodder. And she certainly looks the part of the badass heroine, at least in slo-mo. Winstead’s no-nonsense aura serves her well as Kate, a strong, silent type whose only concession to whimsy is an obsession with a particular brand of soft drink. (No points for guessing whether they’ll form an unconvincing emotional bond over their respective tragic backstories.) She has roughly one day left to live, which she chooses to spend hunting down and enacting revenge on her killers - with unexpected assistance in the form of Ani (Miku Martineau), the teen daughter of one of Kate’s recent targets. The spoiler-free version is this: Kate is an elite American assassin operating in Tokyo, who wakes up after a botched job to discover she’s been poisoned. Umair Aleem’s script is so predictable that it’s possible to map out the entire final act based on the first two minutes of the movie and the plot synopsis. But Kate wears its influences like borrowed clothes, never quite managing to develop a style or voice that feels wholly its own. If its car chase feels too obviously CG even by the standards of a Fast & Furious movie, well, the vrooms and screeches still scratch a certain lizard-brain itch. If its bloody fistfights feel sluggish in comparison to the balletic grace of John Wick, well, there are worse action movies to crib from than John Wick. Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Miku Martineau, Woody HarrelsonĪll these familiar elements come together to form a movie that’s fitfully entertaining.

Kate netflix movie review