Rent Ava (2020)

Just give up on the female action films Hollywood!! - Ava review by MP

Yet another Hollywood attempt at a strong female 'action' lead, 'empowered woman' etc etc.

There's never going to be a decent female version of Bond/Bourne/John Wick and this goes to prove it Loads of speeded up fight scenes and a lousy story line.

If you want a decent female action flick then try Haywire , which is only made good by the fact the female lead Gina Corano is an ex MMA fighter so actually knows how to handle herself and isn't playing at it.

Awful, formulaic, cliche after cliche and a plot that’s so stupid you wonder why it got passed - Ava review by SD

Dreadful, waste of time plot, great actors clearly doing it for the money, don’t bother. I think the film does nothing for female empowerment and nothing but an embarrassment to some fine actors 

Clichéd to boredom - Ava review by Alphaville

If you’re looking for an exciting female assassin movie, this isn’t it. All hope is dashed at the first set-piece, when star Jessica Chastain beats up loads of bad men and shoots a load more, none of whom can shoot straight. With imaginative direction it might have worked, but the bog-standard action is sliced and diced in the editing room into a tedious mess.

Chastain doesn’t have the charisma to carry the film and her boss John Malkovich is his usual hammy self. The clichés are highlighted by the presence of Geena Davis, a former action heroine who is now stuck with playing the mother laid up in bed from a heart attack (cue mother/daughter soul-searching).

Plus points? Colin Farrell adds some much-needed grit as the chief baddie, but he’s underused. And the thumping soundtrack, which adds pace lacking in the script, deserves a better film. To see how it should be done, watch the exciting South Korean movie The Villainess.