‘Atomic Blonde’: How Can We Get More James McAvoy Into Our Lives?

This weekend’s big action showcase at the movies is the Charlize Theron-starring Atomic Blonde. In the film, Theron plays an undercover MI6 agent sent to Berlin during the Cold War ’80s, and it promises a whole lot of action and style. It looks like a hell of a good time, and the reviews have been especially enthusiastic about the chance to once again see Charlize Theron kicking ass on screen. And rightly so. In recent years, there have been few pleasures more enjoyable than watching Charlize Theron in an action role on a big screen. But let’s also take a moment to show some love to Theron’s co-star, one James McAvoy. McAvoy plays a Berlin station chief who ends up coming to Theron’s aid. From the looks of the film, his character’s a little squirrelly, a little jumpy, but otherwise along for the ride. It’s mostly just great to see McAvoy once again in a movie we want to see.

2017 has been something of a mini-resurgence for McAvoy. In January, he starred in the M. Night Shyamalan suspense thriller Split, and all the chatter that happened about the film’s twists, what got lost was that McAvoy’s performance as multiple personalities was a fiercely committed wonder. He managed to stay in keeping with Shyamalan’s arch tone while still fully inhabiting his personalities without so much as a wink.

Seeing James McAvoy working at the peak of his powers was a welcome sight, especially considering the previous stretch of his career. McAvoy has done a great job playing Charles Xavier in the latest X-Men films, but ever since he made X-Men: First Class in 2011, he’s basically removed himself from all other corners of the mainstream film conversation. Besides a voice role in Arthur Christmas and a cameo as “UPS Guy” in Muppets Most Wanted, McAvoy’s non-Xavier movies in the past seven years have been:

• Welcome to the Punch (under $10,000 domestic; 50% Rotten Tomatoes), an action cop movie set in London.
• Trance ($2.3 million domestic; 68% Rotten Tomatoes), Danny Boyle’s least successful film since Shallow Grave, which only played in six theaters.
• Filth (under $35,000; 64% Rotten Tomatoes), another ill-fated crime drama.
• The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby ($587,000; 63% Rotten Tomatoes), an ambitious movie that was released in two parts from two different perspectives, then later together from both.
• Victor Frankenstein ($5.7 million; 24% Rotten Tomatoes), a huge, Max Landis-penned bomb with Daniel Radcliffe.

That is one rough road. When Victor Frankenstein is your top money-maker and Trance is your critic pick….I mean, yikes, I generally don’t subscribe to the notion that superhero franchises are killing a generation of Hollywood’s top stars, but McAvoy’s career is certainly a cautionary tale to that effect. But with Split and now Atomic Blonde, the hope is that McAvoy’s fortunes will only go up.

In the meantime, here are a handful of McAvoy’s best films that you can stream right now:

• Atonement, the Joe Wright-directed adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel that got a Best Picture nomination but didn’t get McAvoy the Oscar nomination that he richly deserved and which has thus-far eluded him. Bonus points for a Dunkirk sequence that rivals anything in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed film. [Stream Atonement on Netflix.]
• Starter for 10, a thoroughly charming British film about a first-year University student who navigates life, love, and a quiz-cup tournament. [Stream Starter for Ten on HBO GO.]
• Split. Seriously, it’s a phenomenal McAvoy performance, do yourselves a favor. [Rent Split on Amazon Video.]