YMMV / Kate

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The seemingly genuine tone Woody Harrelson maintains through his performance as Varrick has led some viewers to interpret him as having come to truly care for Kate. On one hand, he lies to her throughout the film and never stops trying to use her as a pawn or thinks twice about having her cruelly killed off. On the other, he retains his father-like way of speaking to her even while holding Ani hostage to get her to back down; his final words "Great shot" lead to multiple interpretations of the seemingly cold sociopath.
• Awesome Music:
  • Band-Maid and Chanmina most prominently, but several other Japanese artists qualify as well.
  • Nathan Barr's score is also this as well, using many Japanese instruments in combination with the modern musical elements present. Sadly, the entire score hasn't been officially released but it is available on his website.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Varrick being the true Big Bad. There are just enough shots of him when talking on the phone with Kate (along with Woody Harrelson's delivery) filmed in such a way, that from the first one, there is a build-in anticipation for the camera to finally turn or pan out and reveal Yakuza sitting with Varrick. Which then ultimately doesn't happen, but then Varrick is revealed as the Big Bad two scenes later anyway.
• Complete Monster: Varrick murders the families of young women to "adopt" them and turn them into assassins. Taking in Kate, Varrick has used her since childhood to kill countless rival criminals, even giving her an unloaded gun to test her skills in one instance, and making plans to poison her should she try to leave him. When his partner has her poisoned ahead of time, Varrick lies to her about the culprit's identity, using her to remove further rivals in the Yakuza, before corrupting her young friend Ani into shooting Kate and preparing to groom the latter into his next killer.
• Jerkass Woobie: Ani starts as kind of a brat, but she witnesses her father's death, is kidnapped by a stranger, and is almost killed by her family members. She bonds with a woman who turns out to have killed her father and is kidnapped again. Kate saves her but dies in front of her, bringing back memories of her father's death. Despite their rocky beginning, Kate is likely the first and only mother figure Ani will ever know.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some wanted to watch the movie because Band-Maid performs in the movie.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Kate herself was raised since childhood to be a master assassin and now wants to retire after having to kill in front of a child. Lethally poisoned, Kate spends her final twenty-four hours hunting for her alleged killer Kijima, even taking his niece Ani captive to lure him out. Discovering her handler Varrick is the true culprit and surviving his attempt to kill her, Kate allies with her former enemy and his Yakuza forces to decimate Varrick's splinter faction, painfully killing him and rescuing Ani before Varrick can mold her into his next killing machine, all while being moments from death.
  • Kijima is an aged, wise Yakuza crime boss who quickly turns an attempted coup against him to his advantage. After escaping assassination at the hands of Kate, Kijima deduces that his advisor Renji and Kate's employer Varrick are behind the attempt on his life, and confronts Kate with the information to turn her against Varrick and sway her to his side. Working with Kate, Kijima marches on Renji and Varrick's forces, wiping them all out while Kijima personally challenges Renji to a sword duel, one that Kijima wins in mere seconds, firmly establishing the man's badass leadership as he eliminates all rivals.
• One-Scene Wonder: Kate's hand-to-hand fight with Renji's Camp Gay lover Jojima.
• Retroactive Recognition: Toku fans may better recognize Shinzo as Commander Yujiro Wakabayashi in Kamen Rider Revice.
• Spiritual Adaptation: An action film starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an assassin on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against gangsters in a heavily stylized, larger-than-life criminal underworld. Given Winstead's performance as Huntress in Birds of Prey (2020), from the moment the first trailer premiered this movie was immediately pegged as the Huntress standalone film we never got.

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