Kate Review: Revenge is a Dish Best Served …Bland?
Note: This review contains spoilers for Kate.
A recycled noir plot with an updated Tokyo Drift aesthetic ends up like a watered-down Gunpowder Milkshake in the Netflix action film, Kate.
The concept comes from D.O.A., the 1949 film noir and its 1988 neo noir remake—the protagonist is fatally poisoned and has 24 hours to exact vengeance before they die. A modern day Japanese film noir version is a fresh revamping as is putting a woman in the lead role, but Kate still misses the mark.
The kick-ass assassin is a woman, which is great, but she’s a white woman and an American in a foreign country. That’s hardly outside the box. However, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is pretty amazing as an action star and that elevates some of the humdrum-ness of the movie.
While the fight scenes are entertainingly tense, Kate’s fighting spirit often comes across as sterile. Part of that is because she is literally dying, but there’s a little too much nonchalance for it to work for the character and the story.
The film’s biggest misstep is its lack of effort to make the audience care or get invested. None of the acts of vengeance are very satisfying, including the main plot, because we don’t know that much about these characters.
The poisoning that sets the whole story in motion is downplayed and glossed over. Kate is sure that she knows who ordered the hit and why, but that assurance doesn’t extend to the audience. As a result, the element of surprise and intrigue is lost each time she finds out she’s been misled or deceived.
The training montage does little to establish Varrick and Kate’s bond. With Woody Harrelson in the role they’ve got a Haymitch/Katniss kind of rapport going on, but this is not The Hunger Games. The central storyline depends on the viewer’s investment in their relationship, but we aren’t given much to go on.
Even the side revenge plot leaves much to be desired. We barely see the internal rift among the crime family, so the stand-off between Kijima (Jun Kunimura) and Renji (Tadanobu Asano) is almost like an unrelated interlude.
Although, Kijima’s swift handling of Renji’s betrayal is rather enjoyable to watch. That’s one way to cut out a toxic family member, amirite? He’s really just practicing self-care at this point.
Winstead adds the necessary coolness for this stylized assassin thriller, but the just-as-necessary warmth comes solely from Ani. Miku Martineau as young Ani is a breath of fresh air in this otherwise stale action flick. It’s a performance that helps the film just as Ani helps Kate.
It’s a struggle throughout to really understand these characters and the relationships between them, but Ani is the exception. Martineau’s portrayal allows for us to get to know Ani despite the script’s failure in that respect.
When the reveal of V’s double-crossing falls flat, followed by a lackluster exacting of vengeance, it is with Ani that the story finds a real purpose.
And it comes just in time because the hero is now dead—an ending that is spelled out from the beginning in a single sentence summary of the film.
Kate tells Kijima, “I have to finish this. I’m dying, I have to finish something.”
She does finish it, and not by shooting Varrick, but by freeing Ani from the same fate.
Stray Observations:
- It’s starting to get a bit excessive, but I continue to enjoy this genre of one lone bad ass woman up against a bunch of men. It’s pretty dang symbolic of what women have to put up with.
- The spinning camera move is overused.
- “I’m the last person you’ll get to know. You don’t want to know me?” Ani gets it; she is wise beyond her years.
- “A smug westerner. It’s their way to take and take until there’s nothing left. To gorge on cultures they don’t understand and then evacuate their bowels on the rest of the world.” Kijima reading America for filth!
- I absolutely love Kate’s entrance with Kijima and his men. She really deserves that Yas Queen moment.
- “I know you.” Great delivery from Winstead, bringing the moral of the story full circle.
What did you think of Kate? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Kate is now streaming on Netflix.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.
One thought on “Kate Review: Revenge is a Dish Best Served …Bland?”
great article. And thanks for clearing up my biggest question… why did Kate tell Ani “I know you.” I loved the movie.
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