Director: Tate Taylor
Distributor: Belga Home Video
Duration: 96 minutes
Ava (DVD) – Movie Review
Back in February, we took a closer look at the DVD release of Anna, which is handled by Belga Home Video. We loved the Luc Besson-directed movie and we could not take our eyes off Sasha Luss, who brought some divinity in our modest living room. Nonetheless, with Ava also being released by Belga Home Video, and reading the short summary, we somewhat hoped for more of the same. Sadly, we were mistaken and got treated to a very bland piece of cinema that might be worth a watch, but actually buying the DVD for your collection is up for debate.
Ava tells the story of an assassin, Ava (Jessica Chastain), who is quite skilled at what she does. There’s only one thing that is weird for her to do and that is that she always asks her victim what they did to deserve being killed. It’s a question that never really gets answered. Nonetheless, she does the task she’s sent out to do, and she makes sure it looks like a natural cause or her organization pins the blame on a scapegoat. That being said, her last case seemingly took a heavy toll on her mental state and she decides to go back home to try and reconnect with her family, who she hasn’t seen in eight years. This is quite a bumpy ride, and when she gets called back for a mission, which gets compromised because of false information, she also ends up with a target on her back. She is seemingly only supported by her handler, Duke (John Malkovich), while the current head of the company, Simon (Colin Farrell), clearly wants her dead for reasons unknown.
It’s not like the flow is completely off for this film, it’s just that the movie is somewhat slow, especially seeing as it never really digs into its own plot or content. While we see events unfold, we often get the bare minimum of information making it very hard to actually care for the characters. We get to know a bit of background information of what happened to Ava, but this all gets resolved in a 30-second conversation, and other than that, every character has the same lukewarm presence and shallow construction. Even though there is a proper succession of drama and action, it just never got us in the mood to shift somewhat closer to the screen out of excitement. The thin plot this movie is built upon is never truly fleshed out.
Truth be told, the acting performances are okayish, given the source material. We see Jessica Chastain take the lead for this one, and she does so properly. Her character feels superficial, even with the family drama going on, and this does not propel the movie forward. Colin Farrell has come a long way to be demoted to a role in a B-movie such as this, and also one that is extremely shallow at that. He plays a very generic leader of the organization Ava is a hired gun for, and it’s never properly explained why he actually goes out of his way to put a target on her back. A redeeming factor of this movie might just have been the acting performance by the well-aged John Malkovich, who dons his beard quite well for the somewhat parental role in this film. While equally shallow as a character, his portrayal of Duke adds a bit of warmth to an otherwise bleak and cold movie as Ava.
Sadly, the DVD version of Ava comes with no special features, except trailers of other movies also distributed by Belga Home Video. While the movie and its content are quite clear, it would have been nice to have something extra on the disc. It could have been amusing to see how certain fight scenes came to life, some opinions of the cast, etc. This rendition of the movie does not really warrant buying a physical copy, as the trailers are just advertisements, rather than bonus content you would not see anywhere else.
Conclusion
It’s not like Ava is the worst movie we’ve ever seen, it’s just generic, a bit slow and plain boring at times. While the overall idea isn’t bad, the somewhat long and tedious scenes don’t make the already standard experience any better. While it is described that she is trying to reconcile with her family, while having a target on her back, everything feels very shallow from start to finish. This could be a decent experience if it was just playing in the background while stumbling upon it on your Digibox but not really worth adding it to your DVD collection though.
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