Ava (Jessica Chastain) is exceptionally good at her job. She’s prompt, hard working, and never fails to deliver on her promises. What does she do? Well, she is the top assassin operating within an organization of assassins. However, when one job goes a bit awry her life and the lives of everyone around her are immediately put in danger. She will be forced to use her skills to protect herself and her loved ones. As the world comes crashing down around her, a series of past traumatic events haunt her as well, making things even more difficult.
On the surface Tate Taylor’s Ava is a film about an assassin who has to fight for her own life, but, unfortunately, Taylor and writer Matthew Newton decided that it was a good idea to throw in Ava’s family and a romantic aspect in order to make the character multidimensional, emotional, or for some other reason entirely; I’m not quite sure. The reality is, however, that the film includes this emotional dimension and connection to her family that waters down who and what Ava is. The first few minutes of the film, as her first hit plays out, viewers are introduced to the emotional side of her, as they are able to hear and see what she is feeling when doing her job. That opening scene is so beautifully written, wonderfully acted, and perfectly executed that viewers immediately understand that the rest of the film will play out in the same fashion, but sadly they are wrong.
Again, there is emotion present early on in the film, long before Ava’s family is dragged into it. Seeing the emotion on Chastain’s face allows viewers to understand her beneath the surface and works well enough to drive the rest of the story. Including Ava’s sister, Judy (Jess Weixler), mother, Bobbi (Geena Davis), and ex-boyfriend, Michael (Common) takes away from Ava’s personality and doesn’t allow her to be herself. While it seems meant to supplement how badass she is, it certainly fails to do this, ultimately draining the audience as there is too much going on in Ava. Romance and family issues, like they often do in films of this nature, take away from the primary storyline and force viewers to feel overwhelmed. Furthermore, there are times throughout Ava where the actual storyline is forgotten, and it feels as if Newton and Taylor have abandoned the initial premise entirely. If viewers have issues with the film it’s likely because of the secondary and tertiary plots that overshadow the more interesting story of Ava as she tries to survive her occupational mishaps.
It’s easy to overlook the positives of Ava with the amount of nonsense that occurs throughout the film, but there are some truly gripping aspects as well. Chastain, as usual, shines brightly and is able to purvey genuine emotion regardless of the situation. Full of high-octane action sequences and horrific depictions of death and destruction, something Chastain has not done often in her career, Ava appears to accurately depict these moments and bring to life a series of fun, but gut-wrenching moments. Alongside Chastain is the renowned Colin Farrell (Simon). For the most part Farrell delivers nearly perfect performances and has the clout to lead nearly any film. He, again, is wonderful in his performance of Simon, but what is equally brilliant is the fact that he consciously makes the decision to take a back seat to Chastain and allows her performance to steal the show. In a twisted, but effective way, his tertiary role is one of the most impressive of Ava.
The primary storyline and the combination of Chastain and Farrell (along with stellar performances from John Malkovich (Duke) and Joan Chen (Toni)) allows Ava to be interesting. Sadly, with all the effort put into this story and the emotion behind what each of the actors does is lost on occasion because of the attempted romantic and familial aspects of Ava’s journey. There’s clear emotion present throughout the film, but from time to time the message that Taylor and Newton are trying to convey is lost, making it difficult for viewers to appreciate what is taking place. While there is much to love, Ava fails to entertain in the fashion that seems imminent within the first few minutes.
Directed by Tate Taylor.
Written by Matthew Newton.
Starring Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common, Geena Davis, Jess Weixler, Joan Chen, Ioan Gruffudd, Diana Silvers, Colin Farrell, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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