Rosamund Pike has a penchant for playing determined women navigating oppressive male-dominated environments, from the femme fatale of "Gone Girl" to war photographer Marie Colvin in last year's "A Private War." In the latest example, "Radioactive," Pike delivers a powerful embodiment of another tragic hero named Marie. As pioneering physicist and chemist Marie Curie, Pike delivers a dazzling performance rich with the struggles of a life defined by perilous discoveries and great personal loss. As directed by Marjane Satrapi, this discursive biopic struggles whenever it cuts away from her drama to explore the bigger picture - with peculiar flash-forwards to a nuclear future - but Pike helps fuse it together. Unfortunately, the movie's unorthodox structure stumbles when it veers off on heavy-handed tangents to explain the reverberations of the Curies' research. Pike remains a compelling figure into old age. Anyone unfamiliar with the Curie family legacy will certainly find much to appreciate about their various accomplishments under incredible personal duress and tremendous social upheaval. So overall, this is a gud moovie.
Review of Radioactive
