Jessica Chastain plays a contract killer who, in between assignments, juggles father issues, sister issues, ex-boyfriend issues, alcohol issues and PTSD. Photograph: Allstar/TriStar Pictures/Sportsphoto LtdOne fundamental difficulty with hitwoman movies is that the film-maker would like audiences to empathise, if not sympathise, with protagonists who are not just merciless killers, but mythical creatures. But if hitwoman movies were concerned with realism, they wouldn’t make their female assassins charismatic stunners. The Russian hitwoman is a recurring fantasy figure. Women clearly want to play them: Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie and Jessica Chastain produced their respective hitwoman movies, while Taraji P Henson was an executive producer on Proud Mary.

Source: The Guardian August 23, 2020 13:52 UTC