The world works in a kind of spiral, where everything 30 years ago becomes popular again, with small alterations. Kate is a story of a perfect assassin, betrayed and raising hell in the name of vengeance as poison is slowly killing her. Stylish, with Japanese neo-noir design, involving the Yakuza and greedy Westerners, it is a return to the 90s stories, where lone gunmen (people?) were dealing their own brand of justice in a corrupt and decadent world full of greed and inequality. Of course, the main character is female now, but you've seen this film before, a few times perhaps, and everything is pretty standard.
What shines trough the bland plot is the acting of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who singlehandedly carries the film through. In fact, every other actor is an extra in the plot anyway, so she either made this film work or not. And it works. Kudos also to Jun Kunimura, who can, with a slight adjustment of body posture and a couple of facial expressions, tell an entire story in a second.
Bottom line: a predictable story from start to finish, but made well and acted well. Ridiculous body count which could have, with small changes to the plot, be significantly reduced and the time gained spent on storytelling.
