Note: The writer of this review watched Ava from home on a digital screener. Before making the decision to see it—or any other film—in a movie theater, please consider the health risks involved. Here’s an interview on the matter with scientific experts.
When cable TV goes the way of the laserdisc, movies like Ava will find their lifespans significantly shortened. Sure, there’s always Netflix, or Redbox, or watching a movie on a plane. But some films, particularly forgettable and generic action-thrillers, are basically made to run every Saturday afternoon on TNT. Directed by Tate Taylor, Ava is a napping-on-the-couch movie through and through, with recognizable names and a sexy premise but no distinct personality.
The film reunites Taylor with Jessica Chastain, who co-starred in his 2011 awards darling The Help. Since then, the director’s settled in to a journeyman groove helming middlebrow Hollywood potboilers like The Girl On The Train
and Ma. Meanwhile, Chastain’s etched out a power-femme niche of her own in dramas like Miss Sloane and Molly’s Game. Ava combines these two career diections, taking elements of the most popular assassin thrillers from the past five years and combining them with a signature Chastain role: a troubled but principled overachiever who uses cutting intelligence and stubborn determination to succeed as a glamorous woman in a violent man’s world.
Said glamorous woman be the title character, an ex-addict now working as an assassin for a vaguely defined “company” that has neither the menace of Killing Eve’s The Twelve nor the style of John Wick’s High Table, although the movie lifts elements from both. The former is reflected in the character of Duke (John Malkovich), Ava’s paternalistic “handler” (think: Killing Eve’s Konstantin) who advocates on her behalf to “company” higher-up Simon (Colin Farrell) and his daughter/protege Camille (Diana Silvers). Under Duke’s protection, Ava has been able to get away with the moralistic quirk of asking her targets to confess their sins in the moments before she kills them. (Why this is a problem if she still finishes the job is unclear, but Simon doesn’t like it.) But when an overseas assignment goes spectacularly—but not quite John Wick spectacularly—wrong, even Duke can’t talk Simon out of “closing” Ava for good.
This plot line competes with twin subplots presumably intended to give the story depth. Following that botched hit, Ava heads home to Boston to lay low. There, she reunites with her estranged sister Judy (Jess Weixler), mom Bobbi (Geena Davis), and former flame Michael (Common), all of whom resent Ava for disappearing for eight years with only the occasional phone call to reassure them she’s alive. The family drama gets more complicated the longer Ava is back in town, and—combined with the assassins Simon keeps sending her way—the stress of it all threatens to compromise her sobriety. On paper, this emphasis on character may have made Matthew Newton’s script appealing to Ava’s impressive cast. But combined with Taylor’s commonplace direction, the multiple subplots make the film play like a season of television condensed into an erratic, overstuffed 97 minutes.
The unremarkable lensing and nondescript locations enhance the feeling that you’re watching a pilot for a series on a streaming service that you’ve never heard of, but one that has surprisingly deep pockets. Scenes set in an abandoned church that’s been turned into an underground nightclub have the intimation of John Wick’s baroque excess, and prolific TV and film composer Bear McCreary’s throbbing electronic score dutifully pushes the action forward. But neither is utilized with enough flair. Similarly, while there are a couple of cool shots of knives flying across the screen at improbable speeds that recall editor Zach Staenberg’s work on the Matrix trilogy, most of the action is choppy and uninspired.
Chastain isn’t the only actor who’s worked with Taylor again after The Help: Octavia Spencer, who actually won the Oscar for her performance in that film, played the title character of Ma with more commitment than the movie probably deserved. Perhaps where Ava goes wrong is that, unlike Ma, it never pushes its main character to heights of either tragedy or camp. The female assassin archetype has seen many variations since Luc Besson’s ’90s heyday—so many that a businesslike, “she’s a loose cannon, but damn it, she’s the best we have” isn’t enough to keep things interesting anymore. Even when there’s a tasteful spray of blood smeared across her immaculately lipsticked face.
56 Comments
The trailer alone made me realize I’d never watch this. And it takes quite a bit to keep me away from a film featuring Chastain and Farrell – and much, much more to make me pass on one with Davis and Malkovich.(The very idea that, to “lay low”, she’d reunite with her family, probably the first spot killers would be sent to, is so preposterous it makes many Z movies seem believable.)
Seriously, this cast – just wow. Hard to believe they could make something with that crowd uninteresting.
Maybe they should create a new Oscar category for such achievements.
“Most Underwhelming” does have a nice ring to it.
Ooooooooh, yes, that’d be a great category!
“a businesslike, “she’s a loose cannon, but damn it, she’s the best we have” isn’t enough to keep things interesting anymore.”I’ll watch Ms. Chastain fold laundry for 97 minutes, but that’s just me.
Amazing actress. I watched Zero Dark Thirty in one breath… She was superb. – Elena, Dubai, 20/5/2013 13:45
That’s a long breath.
Speaking of which, if you’re going to cite a Chastain performance as a tough, intelligent woman thriving in a violent man’s world I don’t see how ZDT isn’t the first movie you point at.
Not just you, dude. I’d bring the nachos and the guac to your laundry-viewing party.
Give it a year, you might be able to get your wish.
I’ll bet watching her fold laundry would be more entertaining than this movie.
I had a similar thought. She could be reading the phone book the whole time and I’m still down
I thought it was okay. It’s the kind of movie you’d fall asleep to on a plane.
Man, has Colin Farrell fallen so far that he now does movies where he’s not even mentioned in the “cast”? A cast that includes six not-Farrell people.
I thought about watching this, just as a time waster, since Chastain’s usually compelling enough to make mediocre material enjoyable.Then I saw it was written by Matthew Newton. For the non-Aussies: Newton is the son of two of Aussie television’s biggest television icons, Bert and Patti Newton. He was violently abusive to two of his intimate partners, that we know of.He was charged with stalking, intimidating, and violently assaulting Brooke Satchwell, a beloved TV icon. He was convicted of common assault, but got it overturned on medical grounds and the supposition that with treatment he would never reoffend.He then went on to violently abuse his next partner, Rachel Taylor, who you may know as Trish Walker in Marvel’s Jessica Jones. She got an Apprehended Violence Order out on him, which he promptly broke. He then went on to violently assault a geriatric taxi driver.He came to realise he’d turned his reputation in Australia to dogshit, so he went to the US to star with a clean slate… and within a few months was charged with attacking a hotel clerk. He got off with community service, an apology, and a $100,000 payout for that one.He seems to have kept his nose clean since then, but seeing a face of Hollywood’s sliver of the Time’s Up movement in something he wrote is a bit too on the nose for my tastes. Not sure I want to see Matthew Newton’s idea of a female-driven character/action flick.
Absolutely. I’m more than happy to separate the art from the artist…once the artist is dead.
Thank you for this!
Oh, I wish I’d seen this first, as I probably would have skipped it then. I’ve been a Rachel Taylor fan since interviewing her at SDCC several years back; she was very cool.
Apparently he was originally supposed to direct the film as well, but had to drop out after backlash to him and Chastain.
What did Jessica Chastain do to warrant a backlash?
Some people felt it was hypocritical of her to choose to work with a known abuser of women after being so outspoken on behalf of the #MeToo movement.
Oh.Not a good look, is it?Did she at least say she wasn’t aware of his history…?
To my knowledge, she hasn’t made any statement on it at all so far.
But if he was originally supposed to direct and was pushed out of the role then I’d say things turned out fairly and there shouldn’t be any stink on Chastain.
Well, she’s still doing a movie that he wrote the script for.
He still got paid. And, if he is a member of the WGA, every time that someone buys or rents the movie, he will get residuals.
Thanks for that. I’d never heard of this guy before.
at least the geriatric taxi driver seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing…
How the hell do you get an assault charge overturned on medical grounds? “Sorry folks, that stomach bug just made me a bit punch-y.”
He claimed his actions were due to his addiction combined with untreated bipolar disorder.
Ah, the drugs were to blame. Man, it must be pretty sweet coming from wealth, fame, and/or power and never having to be responsible for your own actions.
Wow, I always assumed his career had just died its rightful death. I had no idea he was managing to work in America. Fuck that guy, he’s pure trash.
Oh fuck, it’s THAT Matthew Newton? I actually had a chuckle when I saw the name in the review, thought “Oh imagine if this random shitty John Wick knockoff was written by Bert Newton’s failson”.But it’s actually him… ew.
Say what you will about Ma, but it makes a great double feature with Greta.
And ANNA.
Geena Davis, of course.
‘The female assassin archetype has seen many variations since Luc Besson’s ’90s heyday…’, like The Long Kiss Goodnight starring…Geena Davis!
I’m fascinated by chameleon actors. Actors you barely recognize from one movie to the other, each time looking like a different, incompatible “true self” that you couldn’t imagine able to play differently. And Chastain is one of the best at that.It’s sad if she’s wasted in films that don’t deserve this. On the other hand, she may make it un-non-watchable. Just the curiosity for her performance is enough of a drive.
This is not the sequel to “The Tree of Life” I was anticipating.
“tree of death” was the obvious progression
an ex-addict now working as an assassin for a vaguely defined “company”Isn’t that just La Femme Nikita?Also, an apparently amazing assassin needs to lay low, so they go home? The one place everyone is going to look?
No one looks for you at your relatives! That’s why they hid Luke with Vader’s only living relatives.
only by marriage
EXACTLY the first thing I said to myself. I mean, why not endanger your entire family? Checks out.
I know I’m a sucker for these kinds of movies, but I liked it.That being said:Under Duke’s protection, Ava has been able to get away with the moralistic quirk of asking her targets to confess their sins in the moments before she kills them. (Why this is a problem if she still finishes the job is unclear, but Simon doesn’t like it.)I don’t know what was unclear about it. It was discussed a LOT. She did it before. It lead to a breakdown. Duke didn’t think she’d be able to cover for her “again.” … This wasn’t a deep reading, it was right there, in the story a great deal.
“This plot line competes with twin subplots presumably intended to give the story depth. Following that botched hit, Ava heads home to Boston to lay low.”This would be a much better film if everything after this point just took a left turn into Serial Mom.
. . . and Jessica Chastain does . . . whatever Amy Adams turns down . . .
Common is in this?I’d hate to have been him when he got home and told Tiffany Haddish he’d been “busy working on Ava”. Poor Tiffany would have felt like history was repeating itself, and probably aggressively asked him “WHO THA FUCK IS AVA?!?!”
Ever since watching that “Between Two Ferns” Oscar special, every time Jessica Chastain is mentioned I can’t help but mentally replace her name with “Jessica Cheststain.”
Does anyone else notice how these superbitch movies all crater at the box office?And yet they keep getting greenlit–wow.
The family drama gets more complicated the longer Ava is back in town,
and—combined with the assassins Simon keeps sending her way—the stress
of it all threatens to compromise her sobriety.
I’m not the only recovering alcoholic here — does this strike anybody else as a laughable jab at “Character Development!”?
Was the action any good? You don’t go to a movie like this for plot and character. They are tools to enhance or build on the action. If the action is uninspiring than lets face it – its boring. That’s what this sounds like.
I was torn about whether the best thing about this movie was that it earnestly tried to make us believe that 5’4″ 115lb. Jessica Chastain was kicking the shit out of multiple bodyguard/soldier-types or that Geena Davis was using this as her application to the Phoning It The Fuck In All-Stars.
Watched it tonight. I could maybe kind of believe her kicking ass. What I really had a hard time with was more than once she took a direct punch right to the face from a guy that probably weighed twice as much as her and it hardly slowed her down.
Much like Salt, I’ll pass.