[Review] Ghosted (6/10)

 

Title - Ghosted
Production - Apple Original Films, Skydance Media
Starring - Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Adrien Brody, Mike Moh, Tate Donovan, Amy Sedaris, Lizzie Broadway, Mustafa Shakir
Writer - Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Chris McKenna
Director - Dexter Fletcher
Release - 21 April 2023

Ghosted is a terrible title to this film because it doesn't represent the action side of the film. But a minor issue. 

In the middle of the movie, there were a bunch of cameos; but there were two in particular that clued me in on the fact that the writers must be MCU fans. And sure enough, once the credit started rolling, the three writers credited were the writers for the Deadpool and Spider-Man movies. And I think it was Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick responsible for those cameos.

I think people who are watching this movie are going to be Captain America fans. I don't think Chris Evans has done enough yet to distance himself from that role that made him, ever since leaving the MCU. Not faulting him for anything, and that's one of the reasons why I was interested in watching this, too.

The other being Ana de Armas, who I think not only is she gorgeous but really coming to her own in recent years as a Hollywood actress. Action suits her too.

But Dexter Fletcher should have put more effort in creating her character. In my head, I just couldn't marry both her girl-next-door sweetness with her CIA persona. They felt too distanced from each other.

However, Fletcher did create that perfect first date for the pair that audiences will have no problem getting onboard with. Evans and de Armas both shared enough chemistry to make their attraction believable and charming. And also the family scenes for Evans' character, with greats like Tate Donovan and Amy Sedaris, were filled with humour and warmth; and of course with a sibling to unceasingly tease Evans about his shortcomings.

But therein, also, lied the next unbelievable part. It's these rare occurrences that is detriment to how gorgeous Evans is. I find it hard to believe Evans is needy and the script never set it up properly too. Still, this is also a minor issue; and Evans did sell it enough.

The part of the movie where it fell apart for me was the whole of the third act, beginning with the interrogation room. Things just jumped from point to point without proper dialogue to establish them or build up from. And that whole sequence felt like it's been rewritten far too many times and ended up incoherent, just to end with de Armas' character storming off.

I'm still not a fan of Dexter Fletcher. Eddie The Eagle was probably his best, because I really disliked Rocketman and found the TV series "The Offer" to be wanting in some direction. But the star power of Evans and de Armas certainly made this watchable and entertaining.