ATTENTION: This article contains spoilers.

Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, ‘Kate’ was released Sept. 10, 2021. Despite its recent release, the Netflix Original has already gained numerous critical reviews. 

Scoring a low 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, several people feel this Netflix original was extremely lackluster in its overall delivery. 

Unfortunately, I wholeheartedly agree with these critics. ‘Kate’ was fairly dreadful to watch. At one point, I had to pause the movie around the 35-minute mark to give myself a break. In all fairness, this movie is a violent, rated R, action, assassin movie which is certainly not like those I typically gravitate towards. 

Even without factoring in the violence of ‘Kate,’ the movie was still lackluster in its predictability. The plot of the movie revolves around Kate, a female anti-hero assassin who is poisoned and has 24 hours to live, all the while attempting to kill her murderer. Although the premise is interesting, it has also been done before and somewhat spoils the end of the movie. 

Although not a technical term, the best word to describe ‘Kate’ is wishy-washy. In the first scene of the movie, the audience witnesses Kate brutally murder three people. The film then feels we are supposed to be sympathetic for her because she wants a normal life with children. 

The main issue that other critics and I had throughout the movie were with some of its underlying tones of racism and imperialism.

A majority of ‘Kate’ takes place in Tokyo, Japan. There are multiple elements, including set pieces, music and fashion, that reflect the Japanese culture in a light-hearted, but two-dimensional way. The man who Kate believes poisoned her is an Asian man. Kate, a white American, then goes on a killing spree of basically any person of Asian descent who gets in her way. This is incredibly disturbing considering the amount of Asian violence that has happened throughout recent years and, truthfully, was very upsetting to watch. 

Continuing further with a major spoiler, the true villain of the film ended up being Varrick, played by Woody Harrelson, a white man trying to overthrow an Asian clan, meaning all of the individuals Kate murdered in cold blood have been discovered to not even be those responsible for her murder. 

For more information, I recommend reading ‘Netflix’s Tokyo-set action flick “Kate” tries to critique imperialism while ultimately relying on it’ by Kylie Cheung, an article that expands further on these details. 

Overall, with the unnecessary amount of gruesome violence, underlying tones of imperialism and a predictable plot at best I have a very low rating and review of ‘Kate.’ However, my opinion is just one, so if you are interested in forming your own opinion, this movie is on Netflix.