This image released by Focus Features shows Charlize Theron in "Atomic Blonde." (Jonathan Prime/Focus Features via AP)

Charlize Theron stars as Lorraine Broughton, the badass, ass-kicking undercover MI6 agent in David Leitch’s “Atomic Blonde,” an intense Cold War-era spy flick too confusing and convoluted to make much sense of, but it provides enough dynamic and punishing action that it will leave you feel a little beaten up exiting the theater.

Leitch, the stuntman-turned-uncredited co-director of “John Wick” (who, amazingly enough, has “Deadpool 2” coming next) brings a rawness to his improbable fight choreography. There’s a texture and a realness to the way kicks and punches land, to how bodies hit walls and glass breaks over heads.

For its first hour or so (it’s a little long at 2 hours), “Atomic Blonde” confuses and bores with a who’s who of introductions of names and places that are difficult to remember. The film is bookended with Broughton relaying her testimony to an MI6 executive (Toby Jones) and a CIA agent (John Goodman) about the events that unfolded over the previous ten days involving a dead MI6 agent and a missing “list,” which includes the names of all Soviet Union agents.

Broughton’s testimony begins with her arrival in Berlin just days before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. She’s a target the moment she lands, when the occupants of her ride try to take her out. David Percival (James McAvoy), an eccentric spy of some sort who goes on to become her greatest ally, helps her out of that bind. There’s also Delphine Lasalle (Sofia Boutella), an undercover French agent, who’s a little in over her head in Berlin, takes a lot of photos and is involved in an odd one-off romantic scene with Lorraine Broughton in an attempt to bring more character to her.

On almost any level of storytelling, “Atomic Blonde” fails across the board. Characters are thin and lack clear motivations, and it’s best not to think to hard about the unnecessarily messy and convoluted plot, but Leitch injects a particular style so fitting with his incredible action choreography and 80s soundtrack, that it makes “Atomic Blonde” more than worthwhile. As a viewer, it’s worth paying most attention to what the “list” is and why everyone wants it so bad.

But it’s greatest feat is an extraordinary unbroken (thanks to some incredible digital stitching I’m sure) 10 minute shot that goes from an elevator to a staircase and to the streets. It’ll floor you. Charlize Theron kicks an extraordinary amount of ass while trying to protect a man with pivotal information. It’s one of the great action sequences of our time, and it’ll be discussed for years to come. It’s unfortunate that it’s so much better than the movie it’s in, but it sure makes the movie that much better.