‘There’s no time for mercy’
Kate is a 2021 action revenge thriller about a female assassin who has twenty-four hours to enact vengeance on her murderer before she dies.
Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan from a screenplay written by Umair Aleem. Co-produced by David Leitch, Kelly McCormick, Patrick Newall, Michael Selby, Bryan Unkeless and Anthony J. Vorhies.
The movie stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Woody Harrelson, Miku Martineau, Michiel Huisman and Tadanobu Asano.
Plot:
Meticulous and preternaturally skilled, Kate is the perfect specimen of a finely tuned assassin at the height of her game. However, when she uncharacteristically blows an assignment targeting a member of the yakuza in Tokyo, she quickly discovers she’s been poisoned, a brutally slow execution that gives her less than twenty-four hours to exact revenge on her killers. As her body swiftly deteriorates, Kate forms an unlikely bond with the teenage daughter of one of her past victims…
Reviews:
“Sharing more in common with Crank than John Wick in terms of tone, Kate never rises above the influences it’s drawing from. That extends to anime, as well; Kate’s late-game red eye serves as a hat tip to Tokyo Ghoul, which plays in the background of one scene. It earns its R-rating, offering plenty of bone-crunching and blood-splattering mayhem in Kate’s path, but it’s a predictable path with no surprises.” Bloody Disgusting
“It’s fine to use other countries as locales for action movies, but filmmakers should be more conscientious about what it means to walk around another person’s land and what that means. Just because Kate is disposable entertainment, that doesn’t mean it should treat other cultures like trash.” Collider
“The shootouts and bone-breaking hand-to-hand combat are […] visceral with nice visual flourishes (there are plenty of rotating camera perspectives, overhead shots, and blood splattering all over pristine white surfaces), and Mary Elizabeth Winstead assuredly puts in the work to make those sequences believably hard-hitting and moderately exciting. There is just also no way any of that could ever be enough to mitigate such a bare-bones, formulaic, dry, and ill-advised story.” Flickering Myth
“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. 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. But Kate wears its influences like borrowed clothes, never quite managing to develop a style or voice that feels wholly its own.” The Hollywood Reporter
“This is a movie that we’ve seen a thousand times before […] If you watch Kate just for the fights you will be thoroughly entertained…” Rama’s Screen
“It’s to Winstead’s considerable credit that she almost makes viewers care for the title character’s demise, adding depth and nuance to an otherwise stock role. Unfortunately, the film built around Winstead and her talents rarely rises above time-wasting background fodder.” Screen Anarchy
Release:
Kate will be available for streaming via Netflix from September 10, 2021.
Cast and characters:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead … Kate
Woody Harrelson
Miku Martineau … Ani
Michiel Huisman
Tadanobu Asano
Miyavi
Jun Kunimura Jun Kunimura
Amelia Crouch … Teen Kate
Ulf Pilblad … Wedding guest
Gemma Brooke Allen … Young Kate
Eoin O’Brien … Ring Operative
Patrick Newall … Security Sergeant
Mari Yamamoto … Kanako
Kazuya Tanabe … Shinzo
Cindy Sirinya Bishop … Mother
Ava Caryofyllis … Child Kate
Nicholas Verdi … Guard
Akihiko Sai … Bulky Yakuza
Mav Kang … Security Agent
Leigh Barwell … Host
Nobu T Watanabe … Police
Miyavi Lee Ishihara
Hirotaka Renge … Specialist
MacDonald Andrew … Tech
Technical details:
1 hour 46 minutes
Trailer:
