Kate

Movie review by John Sooja, Common Sense Media
Kate Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 16+

Action thriller has graphic violence, language, stereotypes.

R 2021 106 minutes
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Parents say

age 13+

Based on 2 reviews

Kids say

age 10+

Based on 6 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Kate is an incredibly violent, bloody, and brutal action film with strong language throughout. Not for kids, this thriller finds an assassin racing to find out who and why she has been poisoned. Mowing down anyone who gets in her way, Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) eventually runs into a girl who significantly affected the course of Kate's recent life. Expect lots of bloody violence, gunfights, point-blank shots to the head, gunshot wounds, holes in bodies, stabbings, knives going into faces, necks being slit, fingers getting sliced off, hand-to-hand combat, and a decapitation. A woman gets drugged, a girl gets chained to a toilet, and a woman gets into a terrible car crash. There's a brief sex scene without nudity, and another brief scene shows men in their underwear at a bath house. Adults smoke cigarettes stylishly and drink alcoholic beverages. A woman gets drugged and lethally poisoned. Strong language throughout includes "f--k," "f--king," "motherf-----r," "s--t," "bitch," "whore," "ass," and "damn." The film has some stereotypical representations and depictions of Asian people.

Community Reviews

Black Manta 29
Black Manta 29 Adult
May 25, 2022
age 9+

Loved this movie!

A little gory and some swears, but overall not that bad.

This title has:

Too much violence
Misty S.
Misty S. Adult
April 10, 2022
age 17+

Cursing doesn’t look good on the girl.

Okay, so Common Sense Media is going to be all like “this is culturally insensitive” or something like that. This movie never sold itself as anything other than what it is and what it is based on. If they are going to flag everything for that, they gotta a lotta work ahead of them. That aside, the teen girl’s language is SO atrocious, I could almost not watch it. I mean, I get it; young teens sometimes think it is cool to throw such language around, overly, but she is disrespectful for no reason sometimes, regardless of the tenseness or elevation of the situation. But you kinda get the idea that she is speaking like that because she is kinda acting out and such as she is having to deal with the fallout caused by all the terrible adults surrounding her and in a reaction to the sense of helplessness it has caused. The violence is pretty hefty. It isn’t like zombie corpse level and goes by quickly as it is fast paced action scenes. This movie has some light moral codes, but really it is about whether or not we take the choices we are presented with and make the right ones. Appreciated that it didn’t have extensive things of a sexual nature. Quick, easily fast forwardable scene. Overall, it is for mature teens and adults that don’t mind a lot of over the top poor language mainly coming out of a young teen’s mouth.

This title has:

Too much swearing
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In KATE, a brutally efficient assassin (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) finds herself poisoned and with only 24 hours to live. She must find out who did this to her and why. With help from her mentor and handler, Varrick (Woody Harrelson), Kate just might be able to save herself. But when an innocent teenage girl gets caught up in the mix, will Kate have time to save her, too?

Is It Any Good?

The violence on display is brutal, creative, and intense, but lots of it might be too much for some viewers. Beyond the violence, however, Kate isn't great. For one, Kate's backstory is thin and simply not enough for the audience to get invested in her or her story. Unfortunately, this means that for each wound, every flinch of pain, and all the times Kate suffers, many viewers might not care. And the problem is that the audience needs to care about Kate saving herself, not dying of poison, and finding redemption.

Further, Kate's relationship with Varrick isn't established or built well, and their dynamic or chemistry is incredibly flat. Varrick, a kind of father/mentor figure to Kate, claims at one point that Kate is the only person in the world he has ever loved. But this is never evident in their interactions, in any flashbacks, or in dialogue. Lastly, many viewers might find the story and general idea of Kate to be racist, as the story is another White savior construction that also features a White person murdering hundreds of Asian people. Additionally, it repeats many stereotypes about Asian and Japanese people specifically.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about violence in action and thriller movies. Was the violence in Kate over-the-top, just right, or not extreme enough? Why?

  • How do you think this movie, including the characters, plot, and action, compares to other action movies of similar ilk?

  • Not that it has to, but what do you think this film would've looked like if it featured an entirely Asian and/or Asian American cast? Would this alone fix the "White savior" problem? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

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