Ava | 2020 | R | – 5.8.9

Why is “Ava” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence and language throughout, and brief sexual material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of near sex scenes with kissing and partial nudity, and several cleavage revealing outfits; many scenes of killing by gunshot, drowning, poisoning and stabbing with bloody wounds shown, and many fights with punching, kicking and stabbing; and over 40 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When the employers of a professional assassin (Jessica Chastain) decide her services are no longer needed, and on top of that dispatch her mentor, she decides to use her skills to terminate the management team. However, after an 8-year absence, she first tries to reconnect with her family. Also with John Malkovich, Common, Geena Davis, Jess Weixler, Ioan Gruffudd, Diana Silvers, Joan Chen and Colin Farrell. Directed by Tate Taylor. Several lines of dialogue are in French and German with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:36]

Ava SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A woman is shown seated in a room while watching two men and a woman on a bed kissing and caressing each other (the woman is wearing bra and underwear that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen, back and legs and the men are wearing boxer briefs that reveal bare chest, abdomen and backs).
► A man and woman kiss passionately, he pushes her back onto a table, he takes off her jacket (we see her wearing a sleeveless top that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders), he stands up and tells her that his partner is pregnant and the woman leaves. A woman sits in the backseat of a car with a man and they talk, the man drinks from a small bottle of liquor and offers the woman a drink (she declines), he moves closer to her as if to kiss her and she stops him (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A woman talks to a man at a formal event and they ride in an elevator to an office where she implies that they will have sex and we see him with his shirt open lying on a desk and his bare chest and abdomen are seen as we hear off-screen rhythmic sounds that could be sexual (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A woman driver tells her male passenger that she would like to pull the car over, have a drink with him and, “See what else happens.” A woman talks about finding out her father was having an affair and that she threatened to tell her mother. A man talks about having asked a woman to marry him, “…and you said yes and went away.”
► Scantily clad women and a man dance on pedestals in a dance club (we see cleavage, partial breasts and buttocks, and the bare chest, abdomen and back of the man). A woman wears a deeply cut evening gown that reveals deep cleavage, partial upper abdomen, bare back and shoulders. Women wear low-cut tops and dresses that reveal cleavage in many scenes throughout the movie. A woman wears an off-the-shoulder top that reveals cleavage and a bare shoulder.

Ava VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A woman talks to a man at a formal event and they ride in an elevator to an office where we see him lying on a desk as the woman injects him between the toes with something that will kill him (he seems to be paralyzed by it) and she then slits his throat (we see blood) as armed security guards enter the room and she fights several men as they shoot at her: she kicks, punches and flips them before running out of the room with a bloody face, she rides to the lobby, sets off smoke bombs in the crowded lobby, walks outside where she is confronted by more armed men and they continue shooting at her as she fires back, striking several and gets away (we see bodies falling to the ground with a little blood spray).
► A man follows a woman through a dark park and tries to stab her, she fights with him with a retractable baton, punches and kicks, he shoots at her as she runs away, and she jumps out of a fountain and stabs him under the chin when he tries to follow her (we hear a crunch and see blood on the man, the knife and the woman). A woman follows a man along a walking bridge, he jumps over the side and tumbles down a pile of sand, the woman follows him, shoots him in the leg, they talk and she shoots him in the head (we see blood on both wounds). A man in the backseat of a car leans over to try to kiss a woman and she holds a gun on him and asks him what he did to make someone want to kill him; he pulls out his phone and she shoots him in the hand (blood spurts and the bullet breaks the window), he pleads with her, lunges toward her and she shoots him (he falls over dead in her lap). A man with a gun enters a hotel room and searches for a woman, they each shoot at each other, they fight with punches, kicks and throws, and the woman is slammed into a glass room divider and thrown onto a table (we see them both with bloody faces). A woman fights several armed men in a building and another man fights a few of them with punches; the woman holds a knife to another woman’s throat and talks about poking holes in her face, she holds her around the throat and then lets her go and leaves. A man kicks a weight attached to a chain wrapped around a blood-soaked man and it pulls the man off a pier and into water, where it is implied that he drowns. A young woman holds a gun on a man when he points a gun at another man; the gunman punches the young woman in the face and takes her gun away and the two men fight with punches and kicks and throws, breaking furniture and walls (we see them both with bloody faces); one man uses a knife while the other holds a stone and one man is stabbed in the abdomen, then slashed down the back before falling to the floor where he is struck in the back of the head and knocked unconscious (we see blood on his back, abdomen and face and he drools a puddle of blood on the floor). A woman hits a guard with a weapon and disables him, she enters a building where people shoot at her, she shoots back and kills a few, and fights with others and causes a disturbance that makes people inside a club run and scream; a woman shoves the woman to the floor where she straddles her and punches her in the face repeatedly (we see the woman’s face bleeding), before the woman flips her and holds her around the neck and then leaves.
► A woman cries and holds a gun to her own head and then under her chin but does not pull the trigger. A woman tells a man to stop talking and she holds a gun on him. A woman is startled by a knock on her door and takes a gun with her. A woman uses a knife to cut a ribbon on a box.
► A man says that he would have liked to see a woman cut another man’s heart out. A man tells a woman, “I just killed him because of you.” We hear a news report about someone being assassinated, and that the man was involved in money laundering and election tampering. We hear that a teen girl got a DUI after driving under the influence and causing a car accident; we see photos of the accident scene with a car having crashed into the back of a truck. A young woman on a motorcycle follows a car and uses equipment to listen to conversations between the driver and passenger. A woman talks about giving people a “good death.” We read an evaluation of a woman that indicates that she is determined to be a liability and unstable. A woman talks to another woman about the death and funeral of their father. A woman tells another woman, “I liked you better when you were a drunk.” We hear that a woman had a heart attack and we see her in the hospital. A woman talks about fantasizing about killing her father after she caught him having an affair and he lied to her mother about her stealing money for drugs. A man refers to a woman having a meltdown. A man asks for a “piece” of a woman and says, “A tooth or a finger.” A woman argues with a man and another woman in a restaurant and one woman leaves the table. A woman talks about letting someone down and then disappearing. A woman says that sometimes her partner doesn’t come home and we understand that he has a gambling habit. A woman remarks about another woman and says, “You threw up on my floor,” and, “You were half dead with a needle stuck between your toes.”

Ava LANGUAGE 9

 – About 41 F-words and its derivatives, 1 sexual reference, 9 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 4 mild obscenities, name-calling (passive-aggressive [anatomical term deleted], kiddo, moxie, loonie bin, garbage, brutal, monster, pushy, loose cannon, addict, bastard, irritable, drunk, crazy, junkie, OCD), exclamations (shut-up, meh, oh, frickin’), 5 religious exclamations (e.g. God Love Him, Jesus, Oh My God). | profanity glossary |

Ava SUBSTANCE USE

 – We see a police report that a woman was in possession of a controlled substance. A man in the backseat of a car drinks from a small bottle of liquor and offers a woman a drink (she declines), people in a club hold alcoholic drinks and we see a few drinking, we hear that a teen girl got a DUI after driving under the influence and causing a car accident, a man tells a woman that she is drunk, a woman orders a scotch in a bar, smells it and then leaves it on the bar untouched, a woman drinks a whiskey in her home, a woman drinks several small bottles of liquor in her hotel room, and two people drink wine and shots of liquor at a restaurant. A woman smokes a cigarette in a car while driving, two men smoke cigarettes outside a club, and a woman smokes outside a hospital.

Ava DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Paid assassins, family, infidelity, friendship, lying, parenting, estranged families, betrayal, truth, jealousy, alcoholism, addiction, gambling, debt, ethics, protocol, Croesus, a good death.

Ava MESSAGE

 – You can’t escape your demons forever.