Ana de Armas hasn’t been in the Hollywood spotlight for very long, but she has already delivered a string of fantastic performances which show her talents as an actor. While she hasn’t always been in movies that match her quality, she can always be relied upon to provide a magnetic on-screen presence. The Cuban-born actor started her career acting in Spanish-language movies and TV shows before making her English-language acting debut in 2015.
Since 2015, Ana de Armas has shown her talents in a variety of genres, including dramas, sci-fi, comedy and action. Her biggest hits include huge blockbusters such asNo Time to DieandKnives Out,and she seems to have a bright future ahead of her. Her upcoming projects include Ron Howard’sEden,a sequel toThe Gray Man, and theJohn WickspinoffBallerina.She already has one Oscar nomination, a string of big-money hits and a devoted following, and she shows no signs of slowing.
Ballerina: Release Date, Cast, Story, Trailer & Everything We Know About The John Wick Spinoff
Following the outstanding success of the first four John Wick films, the ever-popular action franchise is getting a spinoff in the form of Ballerina.
Ghostedreturned Ana de Armas to the action genre, and it also reunited her with Chris Evans afterKnives OutandThe Gray Man.Unfortunately,Ghostedwas met with an underwhelming critical response. Evans and de Armas would have been hoping for much better, especially sinceGhostedhas all the elements of a crowdpleasing hit. It just can’t blend these elements together with enough originality or creativity to leave an impression.
Ghostedcould be a sweet romantic comedy, or a fun spy comedy, or a thrilling adventure. Ultimately, it doesn’t pick a lane, and its attempts to cover every possible angle means that it spreads itself too thin. There are moments whenGhostedshows glimpses of the great action comedy it could have been, and this is why it has had a more positive response from audiences.Overall,Ghostedrepresents a missed opportunity.
Hands of Stonetells the story of the rise of legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán. It’s a rather formulaic boxing movie, with a rags-to-riches story and a heavy use of visual metaphors relating to the sport, but it’s still a compelling drama.The bulk of the drama is propelled by Durán’s relationship with his American coach, played by Robert De Niro, who, of course, starred in arguably the greatest boxing movie ever, Raging Bull.
Ana de Armas plays Durán’s love interest, andshe makes the most of a part which doesn’t offer her much depthor attention.Hands of Stoneis really about one man, but it often leaves some ambiguity hanging over Durán. He is seen as both saint and sinner throughoutHands of Stone.Although this rocky reputation reflects the lives of many professional athletes, it means thatHands of Stonefeels strangely incomplete.
Sergiostars Wagner Moura as a Brazilian UN diplomat who travels to Iraq shortly after the outbreak of the war in 2003 in an attempt to negotiate the withdrawal of American troops. It’s a remarkable true story of heroism in the face of lethal danger, althoughSergiobalances this out with a more personal story revolving around his relationship with a colleague, played by Ana de Armas.
The romantic side ofSergiooften outweighs the story of his diplomatic work, so de Armas has an important part to play.She and Moura are both great to watch, developing a firm chemistry that anchors some tender moments asSergiojumps around in time. The story sometimes loses sight of its goal, but it ultimately manages to pay tribute to its subject. The romance is arguably the driving force throughout the movie.
The Informerdoesn’t give Ana de Armas an awful lot to do, but it’s still one of the best movies she’s appeared in. She plays the wife of Joel Kinnaman’s main character, who is forced to work as an informer for the FBI as he goes undercover in a violent Polish criminal syndicate.She plays her role admirably, providing enough of a relatable angle to allow the movie to utilize her character to move the plot forward or to raise the emotional stakes for the other characters.
The Informeris a surprisingly effective thriller. It doesn’t exactly attempt to reinvent the genre, and many of its elements will be very familiar to audiences with a taste for gritty crime dramas. However, it operates within these limits admirably, thanks to a compelling performance from Joel Kinnaman. It also keeps the pace up, bouncing from one action scene to another while the underlying tension slowly ramps up.
War Dogsis a hilarious crime comedy byJokerdirector Todd Phillips, which stars Jonah Hill and Miles Teller as two arms dealers seeking to profit off the Iraq war who quickly find themselves in way over their heads. It’s an absurd story of a caper gone wrong, butWar Dogsis actually based on a true story. The story is only a loose adaptation, although it’s often hard to tell which of the crazy details are true and which of them are fictional.
Ana de Armas plays the girlfriend of one of the arms dealers who opposes the war. She doesn’t have a very large role, but she plays it well. She’s often the straight man contrasted with Miles Teller’s nervous comedic energy.Although she doesn’t often act in comedies, de Armas is the right fit forWar Dogs.The comedy gave her one of her early English-speaking roles before she established herself as a star.
The best way to understand the response toThe Gray Manis to look at the scores it has on Rotten Tomatoes.It has a paltry 45% score from critics, but its audience score is an impressive 90%. It’s incredibly rare for a movie to have such a massive gulf. This highlights howThe Gray Manis an entertaining crowdpleaser. Many of the common criticisms levied against it, such as the clichéd narrative and the uninspired characterization, don’t affect its ability to offer breakneck thrills.
Ana de Armas is part of a wonderful cast inThe Gray Man.She plays a CIA agent who works alongside Ryan Gosling’s rogue assassin.Netflix trusted the Russo brothers with a $200 million budgetforThe Gray Man,a rarity for the streaming platform and a rarity for any studio dealing with an original story. Their gamble seems to have paid off. Ana de Armas looks likely to return forThe Gray Man 2, which is currently in development.
Blondewas seen by many as a disappointment when it was first released. A Marilyn Monroe biopic seems like a great idea, especially with a glamorous, exciting young actor to play her. Monroe’s life is a case study in the voracious nature of the American media and the abject dehumanization that often comes with stardom, but many critics felt thatBlondemissed the mark.Blondealters the true storyof Monroe’s life in a few ways, andit has attracted controversy over the handling of its subject.
Even the harsh critics ofBlonde, those who disagreed with the movie’s half-truths and skewed characterization, noted Ana de Armas' outstanding performance.She earned her first Oscar nomination forBlonde, although the movie was never popular enough among critics for her to have a strong chance at winning. It’s testament to her performance that she was even nominated in such a divisive movie. Gradually,Blondecould well be reevaluated in the years to come, not as a Monroe biopic per se but as a metatextual interrogation of the way fame distorts people’s perceptions of humanity.
Ana de Armas proves to be the next best thing to a female James Bond in her brief role inNo Time to Die.She plays Paloma, a CIA agent who assists Bond on his journey. She isn’t on-screen for long, but she gets to show a seductive side and a more active side as an action hero.No Time to Dieoften takes a rose-tinted view of the franchise’s history, especiallyDr. No, butPaloma is much more than a typical Bond girl.
No Time to Dieisn’t often considered among the verybest James Bond movies, such asSkyfallandFrom Russia With Love, but it’s a fitting send-off for Daniel Craig with some stunning action. Paloma’s scenes are some of the most exciting thatNo Time to Diehas to offer. In a different franchise, the character could easily shoulder her own spinoff.No Time to Dieprovides the perfect preview of Ana de Armas as an action star for anyone who can’t wait for her role inBallerina.
A sequel toBlade Runnermade by a different director over 30 years after the original should have been a recipe for disaster, butBlade Runner 2049is the perfect example of a legacy sequel done right.Denis Villeneuve expands on the world first envisioned in Ridley Scott’s original, with new characters and a new story. He manages to honor the original and establish the same tone without ever makingBlade Runner 2049feel derivative or uninspired.
Ana de Armas' breakout performance inBlade Runner 2049helped introduce her to a huge audience. Despite the fact thatBlade Runner 2049underperformed at the box office, she stood out as one of the highlights of the movie, and she got the admiration her performance deserved. She’s enchanting as Joi, K’s A.I. girlfriend, even though their relationship doesn’t go beyond the superficial.Her character is used as another lens to interrogate the trade-off beyond truth and joy.
Ana de Armas' best movie so far is also one of the best mystery movies of the 21st century. Rian Johnson’sKnives Outis set up like many classic whodunnits, but it has plenty of twists that make it stand out from the typical slew of Agatha Christie imitators. It pairs a perplexing mystery with a great sense of danger as the story moves along. This makes it much more exciting than its thick sweaters and its cozy-crime facade indicate.
Ana de Armas plays Marta, the personal nurse of venerated crime writer Harlan Thrombey who finds herself being implicated in his murder. Marta is an outsider in the tight-knit Thrombey family, looked down upon for her class, with the not-so-subtle subtext of her race also being a factor. She is a suspect, a grieving friend and a potential victim all at once, butde Armas rises to this challenge with a compelling performance.Knives Out’s endingdelivers a final climactic twist to solidify its status as a modern classic mystery movie.
