'Kate' Review: Mary Elizabeth Winstead starrer is action-packed but predictable
If you're looking for a quick watch with gunfights, mafia and a whole lot of blood, you might want to add 'Kate' to your watch list. The movie follows Kate, a meticulously skilled assassin at the top of her game. Ready to leave it all behind, she takes on one last job before calling it quits. However, fate has other plans for her, as she ends up blowing the assignment for the first time in her career. Soon, she finds herself at the receiving end of it all - she has been poisoned and now has only 24 hours to live before she succumbs to this attack.
With the clock ticking and her body slowly deteriorating, she sets out on one final mission, to find the person who did this to her and end them. In her quest for revenge, she ends up forming an unusual bond with a teenager, who happens to be the daughter of her victim. The movie stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the title role, along with Miku Martineau, and Woody Harrelson. If you're looking for similar titles, you might want to check out 'Malignant', 'Reminiscence', 'The Suicide Squad' and 'Black Widow'.
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If you're a fan of 'Kill Bill' or 'Black Widow', it won't be hard to like 'Kate', seeing that the context is nearly the same in a sense. After killing Kentaro, the right-hand man and brother of Tokyo's biggest yakuza (mafia) boss, Kijima, Kate decides it's time to leave the game, as she was forced to assassinate Kentaro in front of his daughter Ani.
Kate's rule is simple - no children involved. She tells her handler, a man named V, that she can't shake off this incident and it was time for her to leave this life behind. It's this decision that sets off a change of events. Her final hit was Kijima, but Kate ends up with acute radiation syndrome, as she is poisoned with polonium 204.
With her body deteriorating and only 24 hours to live, she goes on a manhunt to kill Kijima, as she assumes he is the one who wants her dead. In an attempt to smoke him out, Kate takes his niece, and Kentaro's daughter, Ani, hostage but soon realises that the mafia family itself has far too many internal betrayals, as they are all too willing to kill Ani.
Ani and Kate form an unlikely bond - for Kate, although she doesn't vocalise it, she sees parts of her past in the girl, and for Ani, who has been shunned by her family for being half Japanese, Kate is a guardian figure. The movie is big on action, as Mary Elizabeth Winstead is slinging guns and slashing bad guys, all while dying slowly. Her whole act of stabbing herself with stimulants to buy time adds to the drama of it all. Closer to the end comes the anticlimactic reveal - Kijima didn't poison Kate. It was his right-hand man, Renji. Renji was responsible for placing the hit on Kentaro and Kijima himself and trying to kill Kate, as she witnessed the entire murder.
Renji essentially wanted to wipe out Kijima's family, Ani included, to end their bloodline and take over. However, he was also in cahoots with V, Kate's handler. In flashbacks, it is revealed that V was involved in the death of Kate's own parents in the past and later trained her to be an assassin. V reveals to Ani that Kate killed her father, and it is implied that Ani's fate could possibly be similar to Kate's, where she is turned into an assassin.
At the same time, Kate realises that Kijima doesn't want her dead. So they team up to take down V and Renji, respectively, as they both share a combined motive of saving Ani. The movie ends rather dramatically. Kijima confronts Renji as they duel to the death with katanas and all, while Kate goes after V. In a final shootout, she fatally wounds him and is wounded herself. Finally, Kate dies in Ani's arms, with the satisfaction of having protected the girl.
If gory, guns, and violence don't make you squirmish, 'Kate' is worth a watch. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's fight with Mivayvi has some interesting choreography and is the only one-on-one battle, seeing that she is a one-woman army the rest of the time. The movie is fast-paced and packed with action, even if the plot is predictable.
'Kate' is currently streaming on Netflix.