Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Woody Harrelson, Miku Patricia Martineau and Jun Kunimura

Set entirely in Japan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Birds of Prey) is titular character, Kate, a highly-skilled assassin who works for the man that both raised and trained her, Varrick (played by Woody Harrelson). As the film begins, Kate is being guided by Varrick as she targets a prominent figure of the yakuza and encounters a conundrum that requires her to break their only rule of engagement; never perform a hit in the presence of a child. Nevertheless, he orders her to take the shot, killing the father of the young girl, Ani (Miku Patricia Martineau). Several years later, Kate abandons her final mission in favour of hunting down whoever has poisoned her and left her with just 24 hours to live.

It’s pretty difficult to hide the fact that Ani ends up playing a larger role in proceedings than simply being the witness of her father’s execution at Kate’s hand. Just what role that turns out to be is part of what does make Kate passable enough to watch. The plot and its rendering isn’t as intriguing or comprehensible as it could have been and the production doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, but its visual energy does have pizzazz. With much of the action taking place at night, the addition of fluorescent lighting and a dreamy electronic score infused throughout are effective. Kate’s visual style reminded me quite a bit of recent cinema release, Gunpowder Milkshake, albeit it’s not as potent as that film. Final points worthy of mentioning include the gritty performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and the fact that Kate is sometimes very violent and bloody, which does allow director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan to exhibit some creativity in how certain sequences are executed.

Kate is available to stream exclusively via Netflix

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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