Two Action Films

AVA (2020) 

Director: Tate Taylor

Stars: Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common

Runtime: 96 min     

If we were to believe the movies then a large part of the population work as assassins. They are everywhere these hit-people, either doing one last job or being troubled by their consciences or trying to retire in secluded villages, or recovering from amnesia or protecting small children. And no fewer than two recent films have revealed that there are now hotels catering exclusively to such hired killers...

There are several of them in Ava. Assassins, not hotels.

Jessica Chastain is one, but not a happy one. An alcoholic suffering from PTSD, she only likes to off “bad” people and has crossed an unspoken line by actually talking to her marks before killing them. This is not well received by her overseers. One of these is Colin Farrell. He's an assassin (of course), and has even doubled down on the profession by training his daughter to be an assassin too.

John Malkovich is also an assassin (retired), and Ava's immediate handler, who tries to run interference when the management decide – no surprises here – that she has become a liability.

The weird thing about Ava is that it attempts to take itself seriously. Geena Davis pops up as Ava's mum. Ava's alcoholism has been partly brought about because of poor parental relationships (daddy was a bastard). And her sister now lives with Ava's ex. Family issues are earnestly worked through.

But then you get a big rave party which is accessed by a secret entrance – a portaloo in an alley complete with security guard. Would no one notice a hundred overdressed partygoers sneaking into a single portaloo? It's straight out of John Wick. Pure stupidity, which was right at home in the John Wick context but here comes across as... pure stupidity.

The plot holds no surprises whatsoever and even during the crunching well-choreographed fight scenes it's hard not to wonder how the slim and lightweight Chastain, let alone 66-year-old John Malkovich, can absorb such sustained punishment.

PROJECT POWER (2020)

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback

Runtime: 113 min

There's a new drug on the street. It gives you a superpower for exactly five minutes. But you won't know what your particular superpower is until you try it. That's a big “but”, since it could be anything from super-strength to suddenly blowing up in a splatter of innards. You pays your money...

Hunting down the evil Source of this drug on the underutilised streets of New Orleans unites Foxx (missing daughter), Gordon-Levitt (honest cop) and Fishback (teenager rapper and street-smart rebel). That equal time is given to each of the three indicates the film's eye on maximum demographic reach. Unfortunately it also makes for an uneven tone as things veer towards the teenage and back with jarring regularity. Cute rapping occurs. It's hard to lose the strong suspicion that despite the violence this is actually meant for, y'know, kids.

What does land is the look of the film and the imaginative use of “superpowers”. Actually there could have been a lot more of that, but the ones on display are effective. An early scene of a chameleon-like thief changing colours as he runs from police shows how good this could have been. The action scenes, and there are a few, are well handled but a little character development for the Bad Guys might have added some interest.

This is instantly forgettable stuff. Unlike the recent The Old Guard, it does actually seem to be a stand-alone a film rather than an extended pilot episode. That doesn't, however, make it any better.