Ava

Ava

“Ava” is the Jessica Chastain movie, and that’s its strength as well as its weakness.

From a distance, “Ava” looks like it wants to be another Atomic Blonde a female driven action/spy thriller set in glamorous international cities where targets need snuffing out while family drama; black comedy; luscious shots of four star hotel suites, lobbies and bars; and coldblooded espionage euphemisms that are meant to separate killers from their feelings (assassins tasked with murdering strangers are called executives closing deals) all swirl around them like so many vodka martinis.

Yes, there’s bloody action, but unfortunately it has been directed by Tate Taylor (“The Help”) in the now seemingly mandatory handheld, cut cut cut style of post-Bourne action pictures. The only satisfying sequence in the whole film is a close-quarters fight near the end that goes on and on until it becomes horrific, then exhausting, then funny; at one point one combatant admits “I’m a bit rusty,” blood streaming down his face.

But on the other hand and here’s where Ava will lose viewers looking for the usual this movie’s heart belongs to its non-action scenes: simply staged face offs between Chastain’s Ava, a recovering alcoholic and former teen delinquent who does not see herself as living any kind of life worth saving at this point; and Geena Davis’ Bobbi (her mother), Common’s Michael (her estranged sister Judy’s husband), Joan Chen as Toni (her mother-in-law) or Jess Weixler as Judy herself all characters who have never met an insult they didn’t cherish or an emotional wound they couldn’t pick at until it bled again.

It starts establishing Ava as a talented but unstable “executive” (the film uses this term instead of assassin). She’s adored by her grizzled mentor Duke (John Malkovich), a self-described father figure who replaced the bad biological dad who died when Ava was still a drunk, but she’s marked as a problem employee thanks to her habit of getting her targets where she wants them emotionally, then pushing over an already toppling domino by making them confess a bad thing they’ve done before “closing” them. It’s evidence of a latent moral streak that’s starting to bubble up in Ava after years of being tactically suppressed and it’s also just plain bad for business.

Another one of Duke’s trainees, Simon (Colin Farrell), is a rising star who’s being groomed as Duke’s replacement; he warns Duke that Ava has screwed up too many times and is on deck to get “closed” by another executive. Things like that are never supposed to happen; not only can’t Duke cover for Ava forever, but her bill will come due.

The movie never completely loses interest in its spy-world plot, but it becomes increasingly obvious that the actors and filmmakers are more invested in scenes where the characters talk to each other share their histories, however unreliable or self-serving; pore over personal business; pick at emotional scabs; or just trade insults (“She had hair like a boxer,” Toni says dismissively of Judy); I’m having trouble even remembering any of the action scenes except for that last fight, whereas I have what feels like photographic recall of scenes where Ava visits her ill mother Bobbi in the hospital or reconnects with Judy and Michael. She would be a prodigal daughter if anybody were happy to see her.

She has not been with her family because she is always on the run for drug issues and international voyages (she tells them that she works for the United Nations). If one looks at them, it is obvious that Ava and Michael are hiding something terrible and mind-numbing about themselves which will soon be made public. Matthew Newton’s script is acute when it comes to those undervalued phrases which show how maladjusted people can be for instance; while trying to fix a TV set in Bobbi’s sickroom from atop a chair, instead of saying “Thanks”, Bobbi says: ‘I guess there wasn’t anything wrong with it.’

The most powerful scene in this film takes place by the window where Ava plays hearts with her mother on a small table. Davis’ involvement seems initially like an intelligent piece of self-referential gimmick casting: 26 years ago she was Charley Baltimore; Chastain wears wig reflecting Charleyism during opening sequence but then you realize they put Viola here simply because she happens to be one helluva actress/star.

Bobbi avoids giving into catharsis thus denying Ava closeness only to turn around later opening floodgates; Chastain steps back allowing Davis dominate stage since it’s hard doing anything else when your partner gives some best performances ever witnessed. These two women seem so genuine throughout every moment shared between them as well as those involving other characters such that momentarily one forgets all about movies wherein individuals kill each other using their own hands.

Moreover, there exists an unexplored red thread connected with addiction too. Many persons portrayed in “Ava” either have or had addictions ranging from alcohol/drugs gambling. It suggests that what assassins might engage themselves (or consume) elsewhere gets partly substituted or intensified by adrenaline pumping through their bodies due extreme jeopardy posed upon them suddenly.

Conversations between Duke and Simon reveal that “black ops” organizations recruit individuals who are in recovery or still using because having gone through chaos drives such people towards desire for direction, recognition plus acceptance. Even seemingly “normal” agency personnel like Simon with his mansion full of kids harbor nihilistic tendencies requiring fulfillment through destruction. Majority of base level killers similar to Ava and Toni (Joan Chen) live on the fringes where society recognizes them least (far below radar level particularly regarding latter; she owns clandestine night/s-x club accessible via portable lavatory disguised entrance).

“Half-assed” marketing of “Ava” saw it promoted as a tough-minded thriller without much gunplay or hand-to-hand combat and not really; it is an intermittently fantastic action movie that Charlize Theron started signing up for following her 40th birthday. Whatever reasons she had to accept this role, Chastain (a.k.a co-producer) deserves plaudits for supporting a project whose only aim seems to be doing its own thing irrespective of audience expectations climaxing in finale likely leave people asking what?

“Ava” had the potential to be a fan favorite since it could have embraced the action and espionage aspects as much as it did the drama and comedy, not to mention its keen insights into what kind of person is inclined towards such a life.

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