‘Ava’: Jessica Chastain Tries To Emulate John Wick In A Movie Without The Necessary Weapons For It
There was a time when surely nothing was more valued in Hollywood than the action hero figure, but this type of character has long traded down, largely because they have been displaced by superheroes. Some like Ethan Hunt are still at the foot of the canyon with Tom Cruise trying to overcome with each new installment of ‘Mission Impossible’ , but in recent years no one has emerged who can compete with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick.
It is then logical that there are those who want to follow that path to a greater or lesser extent, this being the case of ‘Ava’ , an action film led by Jessica Chastain that arrived in Spain this Friday, November 11, in Spain from the hand of Movistar + . It tries to explore the problems of its protagonist, a lethal hit man, both professionally and personally, but when push comes to shove it is a much more generic proposal than is desirable.
Stays On The Surface
It must be recognized that the film directed by Tate Taylor knows how to arouse your curiosity with the presentation of the character played by Chastain, since that apparent need to know what each of his objectives has done to deserve death makes it clear that there is something particular in her. And the thing is that it took very little to settle the idea of being the best in what hers, but in ‘Ava’ we try to give something more background to the character.
The problem is that the script signed by Matthew Newton does not accompany so that ‘Ava’ has that entity and almost everything ends up subject to Chastain’s ability to hold the film on his shoulders, especially when ‘Ava’ focuses on her more side personal, where the presence of Geena Davis can be seen as a kind of nod to ‘Lethal Memory’ . Unfortunately, the lack of depth that the film always displays is particularly annoying here, especially in Chastain’s interactions with Common.
Nor do you expect any surprise in narrative terms regarding the professional troubles in which the protagonist is involved, but there ‘Ava’ has the advantage that John Malkovich and Colin Farrell understand very well what the film requires of them and probably the best and most intense scene of the show is one shared by both. Between them and Chastain they help make the film perhaps routine, but also entertaining when the focus is on that part of the story.
Stepping On Safe
Unfortunately, I already warned you that there are no great action scenes here like in the ‘John Wick’ saga, since Chastain’s character may have points in common with Reeves’, but the staging of Tate Taylor goes by other more conventional paths , betting on almost constant plane changes to create an illusion of spectacularity instead of previously working on a choreography in said scenes that is by itself.
He is by no means the one who has used this technique the worst – at no time is it confusing what happens or the situation of the characters – but it ends up being another element that results in the feeling that ‘Ava’ seems to tread too much on sure instead of really wanting to take advantage of what makes its protagonist special . And it is that this initial mirage soon gives way to a much more obvious and predictable proposal.
There it might have helped if there was a bit more feminine touch in the creative team in order to better explore Ava’s particularities, because even in her love life she feels monotonous when looking for a certain emotional resonance that the film never ends up achieving. In fact, it almost seems more like the idea is to play with the contrast between his disastrous personal life and his professional genius, but without scratching anything especially juicy from that idea.
In Short
‘Ava’ could have been the action movie of the year -or at least one of them-, since it is probably the genre that has suffered the most with the multitude of delays caused by the coronavirus, but at the moment of truth it does not happen of being a somewhat irregular hobby that at least you can see without getting bored.
