Every Actor Who Copied Liam Neeson's Taken Comeback - Ranked
3. Charlize Theron - Atomic Blonde
Why The Actress Needed It: Theron turned many heads with her stunning looks and her early roles were mostly in the eye-candy variety. That changed with her harrowing and transformative role in Monster, which rightfully landed her an Oscar. Suddenly she was A-list but a mixed bag of roles followed.
Then she sucker-punched viewers as a fierce warrior woman in the action-packed Mad Max: Fury Road. Yet, to prove it wasn't just a one-off, Theron needed to go full Neeson to cement her action heroine status.
Film In Question: David Leitch was coming hot off co-directing John WIck and picked Theron as his next action muse. Their project together was an ultra-stylish hard-hitting spy flick with Theron embodying a cool and tough agent who goes through the wringer in a pre-Wall Berlin.
Did It Work?: A definite yes. Of course, Fury Road proved she could step up to the action plate if tasked but Atomic Blonde signified that she was a genre mainstay; she executes an exhilarating one-take action sequence that lasts almost a whole 10 minutes and would cripple the average pretender...no arguing that now, huh?