SXSW has opened to fairly roaring success, marking a strong showcase for some of the more offbeat offerings of the coming year - from Edgar Wright's automotive musical-esque thriller Baby Driver to stylish action flick Atomic Blonde.

The latter seems very much to be in the tradition of 2014's John Wick - a kind of game-changing spin on the genre that turned its fight scenes into a kind of neon-soaked, high aesthetic - which is no surprise, since it's helmed by one of the film's co-directors, David Leitch.

It makes sense, then, to cast Charlize Theron in the lead role here; considering her Furiosa proved the absolute scene-stealer of another genre game-changer, 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road.

Adapted from the graphic novel The Coldest City, Atomic Blonde sees her play Agent Lorraine Broughton, a member of MI6 dispatched to Berlin in 1989, on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall; tasked with tracking down the espionage ring which assassinated an undercover agent for unknown reasons.

The film also stars James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella, and Toby Jones.