Ava (2020)

Ava (2020)

 

Starring: Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common, Geena Davis, Colin Farell, Joan Chen
Director: Tate Taylor
Action Directors: Jeff Imada, Tsuyoshi Abe

Ava was yet another in a growing number of female-centric action movies coming out of Hollywood in which an actress—usually an established one—played an agent or government assassin. This time it was Jessica Chastain’s turn to play the femme fatale. Chastain had barely established her action credentials by this point, playing a female warrior in The Huntsman: Winter’s War. Nonetheless, she was a critically-acclaimed actress with experience in a number of genres—drama, horror, science fiction, thrillers and comic book movies. Most famously, she received an Oscar nomination for her work in Zero-Dark-Thirty. So, could Chastain channel her versatility into that of an ice-cold assassin?

Ava Faulkner is a government assassin who is beginning to have doubts about her profession. We open with her seducing a banker (Ian Gruffoald, Mr. Fantastic from the 00s Fantastic Four movies) before killing him. However, before pulling the trigger, she asks him if he knows what he did wrong. What she does not know is that her conversation with the target is being overheard by another agent (Diana Silvers). Apparently, this has been a problem for Ava in the past and once led to a complete meltdown on her part—she can no longer bear the idea of assassinating someone who does not deserve it. Although her mentor, Duke (John Malkovich), is trying to work with her through this crisis of conscience, his superior, Simon (Colin Farell), is less understanding.

After a botched assassination job in Saudi Arabia, Ava requests some leave while the dust settles and goes back to Boston to visit her family. We learn over the course of the movie that Ava had been something of a child prodigy who got involved in booze and drugs during the latter part of her adolescence. After getting arrested for a DUI, she joined the military and demonstrated the same aptitude for excellence in the Army, which led to her becoming an assassin. However, it came at the cost of estrangement from her family. Now she has to deal with her ex-boyfriend (rapper Common) dating her younger sister (Jess Weixler, of the horror-comedy Teeth) and her mom (Geena Davis), who’s recovering from a heart attack. As Ava tries to tie up these loose ends and years of pent-up and unexpressed emotions of anger and remorse, she must also deal with the fact that her employers now regard her as a liability.

Despite solid production values and a commanding performance from Jessica Chastain, critics came down hard on Ava. Most of the criticisms revolve around the film’s clichéd premise: it does come across as little more than a serious, gender-inverted remake of Grosse Pointe Blank. Both films deal with a soldier-turned-assassin returning home after years, balancing out their professional identities and the relationships they suddenly left behind. This film is serious for the most part, with only Geena Davis adding a little quirk as Ava’s ailing mother. That was casting genius, not only because Davis has her own female assassin film—The Long Kiss Goodnight—but because Jessica Chastain looks a lot like a younger version of her. In any case, if you don’t get drawn into Ava’s family life, you will likely feel bored whenever she isn’t cracking heads.

Said head cracking is furnished by Jeff Imada and Tsuyoshi Abe. Both men are long-time Hollywood veterans, with Imada being best known in recent decades for his work on the Jason Bourne films. Tsuyoshi has worked more as a stuntman, but did provided the fight choreography for Latin Dragon. It is easy to see that the Bourne films influenced the fighting here, which places more emphasis on joint locks, throws and takedowns. Kicks are used sparingly and are usually simpler front or side kicks aimed at the opponent’s legs or stomach.

The first big action sequence is an assassination sequence set in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. The hit goes badly and soon Ava is fighting off scores of soldiers. The sequence is an exciting mix of choreographed disarming techniques and joint manipulations and stylized gunplay. In fact, this is the biggest set piece of the movie and could have been the lead up for the finale. Another fight shortly afterward has Ava fighting off a knife-wielding assassin in a city park. She wields a steel baton against her attacker. The jiu-jitsu techniques are complex, but are filmed without the necessary “Umph” to be memorable. There are some scuffles between Ava and the goons working for a gambling den owner, played by Joan Chen. That particular subplot almost feels out of place, especially its offbeat resolution.

The finale is both fitting and disappointing. The fight itself between Ava and Colin Farell’s Simon is well mounted. They go at with reckless aplomb, punching, kicking and throwing each other through every piece of furniture in Ava’s hotel room. Ava uses a lot of ground-based kicks in this kerfuffle. Both characters throw all of their weights into their moves and by the end, both combatants are too bloodied up and exhausted to continue the exchange. The disappointing part is that you almost feel gyped in that the whole fight should have been the climax of a larger set piece involving dozens of assassins sent to take her out; it simply feels too small. But then again, the film on the whole as a smaller, more intimate air to it. The action, alongside Chastain’s performance, is good enough to warrant a viewing, but Ava definitely falls into the middle ground of this recent trend of femme fatale cinema.