Movie review
September 10, 2021 · 106 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Kate is a 2021 Netflix action thriller about a highly trained assassin who discovers she has been poisoned during a mission in Tokyo and has less than 24 hours to uncover the betrayal and take revenge. She teams up with the young daughter of one of her past victims while her body fails. The story delivers standard revenge action, physical fights, and a personal emotional bond with no visible identity politics, political lectures, or social-justice messaging.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Kate.
Woke representation / casting
Lead is a white American operative in Japan, which matches the outsider-assassin premise. Japanese and biracial actors (Ani played by Canadian-Japanese Miku Patricia Martineau) fill local roles naturally. No forced diversity or identity signaling visible to audiences.
Woke political dialogue
No activist language, social-justice speeches, or political commentary of any kind. Dialogue stays on revenge, survival, and personal relationships.
Identity-driven story themes
Features a competent female lead and an emotional bond with a young girl that echoes classic action “found family” beats. No gender ideology, race-based messaging, or modern identity politics appear.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Conflict stays inside Japanese criminal circles and personal betrayal. No portrayals of toxic masculinity, patriarchy, capitalism, or Western cultural flaws as systemic problems.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Original story with no source material, historical figures, or established characters altered for ideological reasons.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No significant conservative or right-leaning criticism exists that labels the film as pushing woke, DEI, or identity politics. Minor online notes about formulaic female action leads do not rise to ideological complaints.
Creator track record context
Core team works in commercial action cinema. Writer referenced mild personal frustration with the Trump era in one interview as story inspiration. Casting director has moderate Asian-representation advocacy. No strong activist or identity-driven patterns among key creatives.
Production
