Love on the run...
12 ★★★
Are we witnessing a comeback for the action rom-com? Like The Lost City and Shotgun Wedding, Ghosted is about a handsome couple falling for each other while killing folk and blowing stuff up.
This is the kind of crowd-pleasing fluff that used to fill multiplexes before Marvel began to take over in the mid-noughties.
Dexter Fletcher’s fitfully entertaining effort plays like a gender-flipped remake of the genre’s last big flop – 2010’s Knight And Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Cole (Chris Evans) is an unadventurous and “clingy” farmer who has never left America. But after a night of passion with art curator Sadie (Ana de Armas), he decides to make a grand gesture.
With Sadie refusing to reply to his text messages, Cole decides to surprise her in London where he believes she’s been summoned for a business trip.
He’d left his asthma inhaler in her bag and, since he’d fitted it with a tracking device, he’s able to follow her to her location near London Bridge.
But, within seconds of arriving, he’s kidnapped by a gang of goons working for Adrien Brody’s super-villain. They think he’s a notorious CIA agent called The Taxman and that he knows the code to unlock a super-weapon.
To his relief, Sadie suddenly rolls up and blasts his torturers to death. It turns out she’s the super-spy and he just cocked up her mission. After 90 minutes of bickering, shooting, globe-trotting and car-chasing, she reveals her softer side and he unleashes his inner adventurer. It’s maybe the most formulaic movie to appear on Apple’s streaming service but there are a few witty lines, some diverting celebrity cameos, a couple of solid action scenes and lots of glamorous locations.
Most importantly, there’s a flicker of chemistry between the two superphotogenic leads.
‘‘ After he’s kidnapped, super-spy Sadie blasts his torturers to death