What happens when two of the hottest Hollywood actors get paired for an action movie? You’d expect explosiveness, of course. But Ghosted offers something unique in a genre that’s been overexplored and exploited for decades.
Ghosted first generated significant buzz with the casting of Chris Evans and Ana de Armas in the lead roles. Obviously not their first rodeo, the pair is currently on-demand after their last outing together in the Gray Man. But in an action film directed by the man behind Bohemian Rhapsody, where Chris Evans gets to be the damsel in distress? Now that’s fresh, especially in the action genre.
It also comes as no surprise that Apple TV was behind the makings of the film. Apple TV is no stranger to quality high-production movies as we’ve seen with films such as On The Rocks, Macbeth and the heartbreaking family story, CODA. Beyond films, the streaming platforms excelled at producing memorable TV shows as well - Ted Lasso’s new season is a testament to that.
The film follows farmer Cole Turner (Chris Evans) in his pursuit to find his accidental date, Sadie Rhodes (Ana de Armas) who ‘ghosted’ him after the first meetup. The pursuer then becomes the game as Sadie’s enemies capture him in a foreign country. The movie quickly turns into a wild goose chase with less goose honks and more vehicles. The unique setup was visualised by Dexter Fletcher, a director known for his colourful, almost-faithful-to-the-source biopics.
Rest assured, Dexter Fletcher definitely got his quirky fingers all over the film. The ‘flair’ you see in his musical-driven stories were evident in this one. From screenwriting down to the action shots, you can also tell that Dexter’s enthusiasm for directing his first-ever action flick didn’t get the better of him, instead, allowed his creatives to collaborate and produce a familiar yet stellar showing in the action genre. But music? Still plays a large role in the film.
Speaking to Dexter himself, he admitted that beyond the action, he liked the script because it was humorous and also explored an old-school love story (that of course, took an imaginative turn).
‘What’s really beautiful about this movie is that it’s quite old-fashioned. They meet in real life; at a market. A lot of people don’t meet like that anymore, they meet like how we’re meeting now (a virtual interview) or an app that tells them their compatible with somebody because they’re in the same criteria’
Chris Evans and Ana de Armas share palpable chemistry on screen, making their performances in Ghosted one of the film's highlights. Their awkward squabbles, grins and overall infatuation glued us to the seat. Ana de Armas’ action scenes were well choreographed and it was frankly nice seeing Chris Evans all scared and helpless for once.
Dexter Fletcher knew how to get the best out of the pair, as he did with other romantic scenes in his previous films.
Ghosted had everything - fun, guns and a lot of sexual tension and maybe, it’s also a sign you should text the other person back, right now.
8/10