Ava (2020) review

Female assassin Ava (Jessica Chastain) keeps "breaking protocol" - she likes asking her soon-to-be-victims to 'confess' to their crimes - which irritates her handler Duke (John Malkovich) and causes his boss Simon (Colin Ferrell) to want her "closed" (i.e. taken out).  This boilerplate killer lady movie (the third I've seen this year alone, after Anna and The Rhythm Section) has all the expected genre elements - history of drug/alcohol abuse, lousy childhood, 'elite' military training, long list of bad personal decisions - only without any ingenuity and with flimsy plotting (the ending is abysmal) ... plus there's some tired "unfinished family business" with mother Bobbi (Geena Davis) and sister Judy (Jess Weixler).  I'm glad there are so few people out in the streets of Boston during the daytime that no one can hear gunfire or notice a woman soaked with blood....