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Written by: Theresa Rebeck and Simon Kinberg (screenplay by), Theresa Rebeck (story by)
Directed by: Simon Kinberg
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Edgar Ramírez, Sebastian Stan, Lupita Nyong'o
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it, while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who's tracking their every move.
Verdict
This is an action movie with the thinnest of setups. The goal is make a team of women spies, but the movie doesn't do much development to get there. Bad guys are vying for a weapon that will control the world. Enemy secret agents from various countries team up to save the world. The script is derivative, and the 'bad guy' is underwhelming.
Skip it.
Review
This seems like some kind of cartoon just a few scenes in. Bad guys like drug dealers are vying for a high tech weapon that is the ultimate destruction device. There's no depth for it. It's perfunctory. The setup is a device just to get these different agents together. They're enemies that must unite for the greater good. The movie doesn't try to develop the characters more than generic stereotypes.
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| Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong'o, Jessica Chastain play Graciela, Lin, Mare, Khadijah, Mace |
Mace (Jessica Chastain) is the main character, and the first to attempt getting this device. She's in a relationship with her partner. The only reason for that is to create drama in the story later. It's forced. Their plan to buy the device goes awry, but their cover story is that they are a honeymooning couple. It lacks stealth. That leads into an extended action sequence.
There's a lot of action in this movie and plenty of stars, but not much else. The script is so shallow. It's a vehicle just for the action scenes. I get the goal is to put these characters together, but this is such a stilted way to do it.
The title is the code name for female spies during the American Revolution. The movie manages to shove that information into the dialog.
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| Sebastian Stan, Jessica Chastain play Nick, Mace |
The one thing I appreciate about this is the villain who kidnaps their family members. This villain goes for it. There's no monologue or gloating. It's a shock, because villains don't often execute hostages like that. It's not enough to save the rest of the movie, and this even hints at a sequel.
This seems like it wants to be a bit like Mission Impossible with a female ensemble cast. Ditching the typical spy movie tropes would certainly help. This doesn't do much to make these characters unique. Two of them are the tough spy types, Chastain playing the tough American and Kruger playing the tough German. There's also a technology specialist and a counselor who's never been in the field. With a lot of good versus bad movies, the movie is only as good as the villain. This super weapon is so bland it's boring. There's no motive other than having the greatest weapon. The main antagonist is present only to obtain the device for the real big bad who has little bearing on the movie.
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