What I’m watching: ‘The Battle of the Sexes’ is a good history lesson

Date: 1/18/2018

What I’m watching are two films that can found at your neighborhood Red Box.

Atomic Blonde

This action espionage film had an intriguing trailer, but I missed it in theaters. Thanks to Red Box, though, I can see it and if you’re into action films you may want to spend the couple of bucks to rent it.

By the way, I still miss the corner video store with its often-eclectic collection of new and old releases.

“Atomic Blonde” is by no means a perfect example of an action film. Based on the graphic novel “The Coldest City,” the film is set in Berlin in 1989 just days before the fall of East Germany and the destruction of the Berlin Wall.

MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin to retrieve a list on microfilm that is a dossier on every Western and Russian agent, including the identity of Satchel, a notorious double agent. She is supposed to be working with the MI6 Berlin mission head David Percival (James McAvoy), but has been warned by her boss not to trust anyone.

McAvoy has gone “native” changing his appearance to operate in the East German underground. His Berlin flat is full of American jeans and whiskey, which he uses as bribes in the Communist country. It’s clear that Broughton doesn’t trust him despite his being an agent on the same team.

To go more into the plot would be a disservice as it’s full of twists and turns. Director David Leitch has a long background as a stuntman and stunt coordinator and it shows. The action sequences rival those in classic Hong King movies – that’s a high compliment from me ¬ and they are exciting to watch, even if some of them go on a bit too long.

I did like how the film opened with Broughton nursing her heavily bruised body in an ice water bath.  It foreshadowed the action what was going to be detailed in a flashback and its consequences.

Theron is always interesting and is quite impressive in this role as it’s clear she is doing much of her own stunts. McAvoy now has cornered the market for the morally and ethically compromised law enforcement agent.

My problem with this film is the plot, which is often confusing, and its conclusion, which may have people scratching their heads.  

The film is a wild ride until the end and if you can forgive its unnecessary complexity, you’ll have a good time.

It is rated R for all of the usual reasons: violence, profanity, sex and nudity.

The Battle of the Sexes

I’m old enough to remember the hype from 1973 when the women’s tennis champion Billie Jean King defeated Tennis Hall of Famer Bobby Riggs in a tennis match that proved to a milestone in the women’s liberation movement.

The film is a well-meaning and respectful re-telling of the events leading up to the televised winner-take-all match – the prize was $100,000 in 1973 dollars – and the conflicts both contestants were facing.

For King, it was both her efforts to bring about pay equality for professional women tennis players that resulted in forming her own league and series of matches, as well as her personal struggle with her sexuality.

For Riggs, a well-know gambler and hustler, it was one last effort to get back into the limelight and make a pile of dough. Although Riggs played a chauvinist in public the film supports the ideas that privately Riggs simply saw his public person as a way to heighten interest in the match.

According to biographies of King, she and Riggs had a deep friendship lasting to his death in 1988.

Directed by the team of Jonathan Dayton and Valarie Faris, the film has a respectful tone towards the principals, using their respective private issues to heighten the drama of the big match.

Emma Stone and Steve Carell are perfect in their roles as King and Riggs. Stone brings both King’s intensity on court and private uncertainties to the screen, while Carell humanizes Riggs as a flawed man trying to do something that would culminate his career.

Of course, within the current atmosphere of revelations of sexism and workplace harassment, the issue of gender equality brought up by this film is timelier than ever.

Entertaining and thoughtful, this is a movie that could spur an interesting discussion about the gender roles in American society.