‘Ghosted’ Review: A Completely Bland Take on the Romantic Action Genre
There seems to be an epidemic of expensive Hollywood blockbusters catering to audiences 20 years late. Dexter Fletcher‘s Ghosted is the latest addition to a list that in recent months added movies like (but not limited to) Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. (Hint: that banner up there is more realistic than anything that happens in the movie.)
Ghosted is the latest film from Apple TV Plus, now available to stream, and stars Ana de Armas and Chris Evans in a paint-by-numbers romantic action comedy that attempts to deliver a fresh take on modern dating, yet fails to add anything to the conversation; after all, maybe having a 57-year-old director talk about the nuances of meeting someone in the 21st century isn’t the best idea. For context, the best the film has to offer is asking the audience whether sending an emoji counts as a text or not.
It’s all too bad, because every other element of the film should work. The script hails from the writers behind Deadpool and Spider-Man: No Way Home, also known as two of the best screenplays for high-budget films in the past decade; and yet, it feels clunky and completely out of touch. And we are not talking about the physics-prohibiting action setpieces; compared to any social interaction in the film, Chris Evans surviving a chase sequence with a dozen mercenaries shooting at him while Ana de Armas drives a third-world-country school bus through the desert seems perfectly believable.
Ana de Armas and Chris Evans in Apple TV Plus’ Ghosted.
The story focuses on Chris Evans’ Cole, an average farm boy (once we ignore the model looks and the Captain America body, of course) who, after being dumped, is looking for a girl he can water plants with. Enter Ana de Armas’ Sadie, an enigmatic art enthusiast whom Cole falls head over heels for after an awkward encounter at a local market. After spending the day and night together, Cole starts texting her but receives no response. Convinced that she is not ghosting him, he tracks her down to London, where he’s kidnapped by members of a criminal organization. But oh wait, because he’s suddenly rescued by Sadie, who turns out to be a CIA agent working on a dangerous mission that Cole just found himself in the center of.
At its core, the film is a 2000s action blockbuster made in 2022; it is filled with generic (albeit competently-handled) action setpieces, decorated with an overabundance of pop songs that attempt to keep the audience awake; all of this completely make us forget this should have been (500) Days of Summer meets John Wick, but it actually turned out to be a rewrite of sorts of The Gray Man. It is definitely Apple’s closest attempt at targeting the audience for high-budget Netflix films like 6 Underground or Red Notice, and it turned out right on par with those in terms of quality.
Ana de Armas in Apple TV Plus’ Ghosted.
That being said, though, at least this film has Ana de Armas. She may not come anywhere close to what she did in Blade Runner 2049 or Knives Out, but watching her take Chris Evans’ clumsy character to school throughout the film is quite entertaining. That’s not a riff on Evans either, as his attitude is exactly what any of us would have in that situation. He played the part really well; the problem is that, after seeing him for years as Captain America, it’s quite hard to believe any of it. It seemed like playing a naughty boy in films like Knives Out, or even doing something like 2017’s Gifted, would be his perfect way to exit the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for some reason, he decided to shoot The Gray Man and Ghosted back-to-back.
All in all, Ghosted is by no means a good movie; however, if you are looking for a story with little substance that adds nothing to the conversation, but has two high-profile actors (and some very fun cameos as well) having some fun together, you might find something of value here, especially if you enjoyed films like Red Notice.
Ghosted is currently streaming on Apple TV Plus.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
