The 'terrific' Bond Girl with a bright future... so why has she failed to launch? How Ana de Armas has struggled to live up to her hype thanks to 'unwatchable' plots and Box Office flops

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

When Ana de Armas wowed on screen as No Time To Die 's beautiful, brainy, combat trained Bond Girl in 2021, she was touted to reach stratospheric heights.
The Cuban-born actress, now 37, had it all. Charisma, talent, beauty and, crucially, the ability to captivate an audience - but four years on from her Bond Girl appearance, Ana's career has failed to launch.
It's not that Ana has been short of big roles during her career - having starred in several high budget productions in the last few years. But despite the big value and star-studded casts, almost every single production has failed to hit the right note with audiences.
Instead of her performances, the talented actress has somehow become a talking point over her string of high profile relationships.
Ana previously enjoyed a steamy fling with Ben Affleck (before his reunion with ex wife Jennifer Lopez) and was married to Spanish actor Marc Clotet.
But as the rumour mill goes into overdrive about her link to Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise after the pair were spotted dining together in London on Valentine's Day, fans could be forgiven for forgetting that Ana's new project has just launched - Ballerina, the newest film in the John Wick franchise.
The film features franchise founder Keanu Reeves and follows the story of a ballerina-turned-assassin who sets out to avenge the death of a friend she failed to protect.
But despite Ana's rumoured boyfriend Tom Cruise hailing the flick 'outstanding', it has received a drubbing from critics - with the Telegraph describing it 'shoddy'.
Reviews of her latest offering are a stark contrast to that of her widely praised performance in 2019's Knives Out, with the Oscar nominee impressing viewers as innocent nurse Marta Cabrera.
So with such close proximity to Hollywood and its glitterati, why is Ana de Armas failing to make her mark?
From early on Ana knew acting was on the cards for her, and moved from her hometown in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba to Spain in order to make it happen.
As a teenager, Ana fled her flat in the distillery town – an hour's drive east of the capital, Havana – to follow her dream.
In the remote town, she had no access to television, the internet or newspapers and her knowledge of Hollywood as a child was limited to timed cartoon marathons at a neighbour's house.
Ana, whose full name is Ana Celia de Armas Caso, has previously said her success only came because she made the decision to leave her home country.
She scored a Best Actress nomination at 2023's Academy Awards for her starring role as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde, however the movie was widely panned
By leaving Cuba, she also avoided national service, which sees adolescents throughout the nation serving in the military or volunteering.
Her departure was only possible because her maternal grandparents are Spanish. In an interview with the Havana Time s in 2011, she described her potential future if she had chosen to stay in Cuba.
'I had there, in front of my eyes, former students of the school – graduates – who were not working or who didn't have any money because they had to perform social service' she recalled.
'I would turn on the television and see nothing more than old reruns of soap operas or things produced by ICRT [the Cuban broadcaster] that were of poor-quality due to the low budgets.
'I was fortunate enough to also have Spanish nationality, and with that freedom I could come to Spain. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had this advantage'.
Ana enrolled at the Escuela Nacional de Teatro, the national theatre school in 2002, when she was 14.
Ana's new movie Ballerina follows the story of a ballerina turned assassin who sets out to avenge the death of a friend she failed to protect; the actress is seen dazzling at the red carpet release in California this month
By age 18 she moved to Madrid where she soon nabbed a role in popular TV thriller series El Internado - a part she auditioned for just a week after arriving in the capital in 2006.
El Internado loosely translates to The Boarding School, a mystery drama which ran for seven seasons from 2007 to 2010.
Ana played Carolina Leal Solís among a group of boarding school students who struggled to deal with issues such as love, friendships and education.
It built up a cult following with fans across platforms like Google, Reddit and IMDB praising the series.
Nearly a decade later, the starlet's dreams were realised after she landed her first crossover role in 2015's Knock Knock alongside Keanu Reeves.
The Eli Roth directed horror film tells the story of a father and husband who opens his house to two women named Genesis and Bel who claim to be stranded, only for them to seduce him.
But her breakthrough role came adjacent to her first Box Office tanking, with the movie earning a disastrous $6.3 million despite a budget of $10 million.
The film was released in the States in October 2015 and went to DVD barely two months later.
It further earned a measly 37 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes while some fans on IMDB called it 'trash' and rated it a paltry one out of ten.
A year later, Ana and Keanu Reeves teamed up again for yet another Box Office bomb.
Exposed is a 2016 flick that sees a detective (played by Reeves) investigate the death of his partner, who along the way uncovers police corruption and a secret involving a mystery woman (de Armas).
But it marked another flop in Ana's career, as it scored a measly eight per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile the Hollywood Reporter claimed moviegoers would be 'resentful' after watching the film as it contained 'nary a trace of narrative suspense'.
It was a busy year for the rising movie star, who had by now starred in three movies back to back; Exposed, War Dogs and Hands of Stone.
However her determination to achieve superstardom was repeatedly met by mediocre reviews.
The then-30-year-old sent pulses racing as boxing ace Roberto Durán's wife, Felicidad Iglesias, in Hands of Steel, resulting in some very steamy scenes.
In one sequence Ana could be seen straddling Roberto - played by Edgar Ramírez- while wearing a pink bodysuit, as they laid on a bed together before passionately kissing.
The actress later left nothing to the imagination as she stripped off during another X-rated scene with Roberto.
The film told the story of legendary boxer Roberto Durán, who shared a passionate yet explosive relationship with his wife Felicidad Iglesias.
Perhaps Ana and Edgar's raunchy onscreen chemistry drew inspiration from real life as the pair were rumoured to be dating at the time.
In fact at the 2016 Cannes film festival, Ana was pictured sharing a tender kiss with Edgar, while co-stars Usher and Robert De Niro looked on.
The controversy did nothing for the film however as it was panned by critics as 'tone deaf'.
After a string of early career flops, de Armas enjoyed a few years of success between 2017 and 2019.
Her appearance in 2019's Knives Out alongside a stellar cast, including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and LaKeith Stanfield earned her widespread praise.
Ranked a whopping 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, the whodunnit centres around the investigation of the killing of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey, who is found dead after his 85th birthday.
Various family members and staff, including nurse Marta Cabrera, played by Ana de Armas, are investigated, during which it is uncovered that Marta injected Harlan with morphine after accidentally mixing up his medications.
In a shocking twist to the film, the audience discovers that the dead novelist left his entire company and house to Marta who inherits them both.
She was lauded for her jittery and anxious, yet compelling performance as Marta, while the film as a whole won over viewers and critics alike.
Knives Out followed Ana's roaring success in the Blade Runner sequel in 2017 which grossed almost twice its budget in the Box Office.
Ana's career was on the ascent when she was cast in the 007 movie franchise No Time To Die in 2019.
Her attempted foray into Hollywood's elite was perfect timing as the movie marked 25 years of James Bond, as well as Daniel Craig's final stint as the suave womaniser.
Ana made her mark on the iconic franchise by playing a character that wielded guns and tackled a villain to the ground during a glamorous cocktail party.
Critic Matthew Bond for Event Magazine called Ana de Armas 'terrific' though 'tragically under-used' – as Leiter's newest recruit in Cuba.
Elsewhere Variety lauded the film as 'an unabashedly conventional Bond film that's been made with high finesse and just the right touch of soul, as well as enough sleek surprise to keep you on edge'.
Rotten Tomatoes ranked it a staggering 83 per cent, while the Collider called Ana's performance 'monumental'.
'It's a note to both viewers and Bond himself that, effervescent personality aside, Paloma is more than capable of holding her own' the publication added.
It appeared her glowing reviews were the fruits of 'hard work' she put in while working on the film.
Speaking to Flaunt magazine in 2020, the actress said she was happy the movie theaters had reopened after the Covid lockdown, as she 'finally' had the chance to 'celebrate all the hard work'.
It was on the set of Deep Water, filmed in 2019, that Ana's steamy relationship with Ben Affleck was sparked - though the film itself floundered in the Box Office.
Ben starred as tech businessman Vic Van Allen who is often seen scowling at the antics of his wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) as she carries on a series of affairs with younger men.
While the erotic flick garnered a measly 35 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, other critics were left divided by the stars' performances.
In a positive review for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey gave the film four out of five stars and noted how Affleck and de Armas' former relationship survives under the surface of the film as 'coiled-up tension'.
She complimented The Armageddon star's 'zombified' weariness and praised the way de Armas' character taunts him.
Meanwhile IndieWire's David Ehrlich was a fan of de Armas' onscreen cuckoldry of her husband.
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw however gave Deep Water two out of five stars and echoed other critics' complaints that the film was 'sometimes bafflingly edited'.
Soon after the movie wrapped, rumours began to swirl that the pair had taken their love off screen after they were spotted on vacation in Ana's native Cuba together.
They later confirmed their romance when they were spotting kissing in March 2020, and by April 2020, they were Instagram official.
At the time, Ana posted a loved-up selfie of her and Ben, in which he placed his hand tenderly on her stomach.
That June things heated up as she jetted off on vacation with him, his kids, and his mother in Georgia.
They spent much of 2020 together, enjoying walks in LA with their dogs and casual outings for coffee. But in January 2021, news broke that the couple had called it quits.
'Ben is no longer dating Ana. She broke it off. Their relationship was complicated,' a source told Peopl e at the time.
The following year marked Ana's big break and the defining role of her career; Marilyn Monroe behind the camera in biopic Blonde.
Then 34, Ana's casting in the Netflix production was touted as her introduction into the acting hall of fame as she portrayed the tragic Hollywood pin-up's heartbreaking true story behind her rise to the top.
Blonde is an adaptation of the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates and is based on the life of the late screen icon who passed away age 36 in 1962.
From the trauma of a mentally unstable and violent mother, through her rape at the hands of a studio boss, to a particularly sordid scene with president John F Kennedy, Monroe's life is depicted as one of relentless abuse and anguish.
But while the 2022 movie earnt Ana an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, it was quickly marred by scathing backlash from some viewers and critics alike.
A wave of anger towards the Andrew Dominik-directed movie began to surface online, with some viewers saying they switched off after 20 minutes because it was 'cruel and heartbreaking'.
People aired their grievances with the film on X/Twitter following its release, where it was slammed by one user who said they were unable to 'stomach' the beginning of the movie as it was 'absolutely unwatchable'.
'Tried to watch @netflix Blonde. Couldn't stomach more than about 20 minutes of the nearly three hours length [movie]' wrote one person.
'That 20 minutes was nothing but cruel and heartbreaking,' said one angry viewer, along with a string of thumbs down emojis. 'Absolutely unwatchable' they added.
'I watched the first 20 minutes of #Blonde and then immediately had to check Twitter to see if I was missing something or if other people were as disgusted as I am. I feel vindicated' wrote another.
Someone else said they were prepared to turn off their TV after just 15 minutes.
'Nah…the beginning of this #Blonde movie is not for the faint of heart. I'm about ready to turn it off in the first 15 minutes'.
Among critics, the film received mixed reviews - though many agreed the film's faults were not down to de Armas's 'believable' performance.
Overall the movie left audiences divided over whether it was an artistic tour de force or another cruel layer of exploitation perpetrated against the 20th century icon.
For ID magazine, Blonde is 'guttural, instinctive, anguished filmmaking that bends space, time, and every cinematic tool at its disposal in service of attaining emotional truth'.
Or viewers might take the position of the New Yorker's Richard Brody, who called it 'ridiculously vulgar', seeing the endless torment that Monroe experiences on-screen as 'a special kind of directorial sadism'.
Despite playing leading lady in one of the most talked-about films of the year, de Armas has not captured audience attention with quite the same success since Blonde landed on Netflix in 2022.
What followed were a string of lukewarm releases including Ghosted, an AppleTV+ production alongside her Knives Out co-star Chris Evans.
It's a far-fetched action comedy in which de Armas plays an undercover spy who seduces Evans before disappearing - which he later discovers is down to her secret mission.
Released back in 2023, at the time it became Apple TV+'s most watched film debut.
But its positive stats just weren't enough to save the star from yet another disastrous review.
According to The Guardian, it was a 'dreadful big star action comedy' which deserved to be 'ignored'.
The Telegraph thought it wasn't worth more than one star, adding: 'After a point, it starts to feel like Ghosted is trying to brainwash its audience. There is no chemistry, sexual or otherwise' wrote the publication.
Now, as the Hollywood starlet-to-be appears in her second John Wick flick, Ballerina, Ana no doubt hoped the action blockbuster would reverse her fortunes and end her streak of Box Office bad luck.
Starring Keanu Reeves and late actor Lance Reddick is his final on screen appearance, it has been described as one of the most violent films of the year.
Ballerina, which is directed by Len Wiseman and released to movie theatres on June 6, stars Ana as the ballerina Eve Macarro, who begins training as an assassin as she tries to avenge her dead father.
As Ana and Keanu's past collaborative efforts have fallen flat, positive reviews for Ballerina have come as a welcome surprise.
It was ranked three out of five by Empire, who declared it 'wickedly entertaining' and called it 'impressive' at times.
The Hollywood Reporter said it a 'welcome extension of the John Wick universe' while the Daily Mail's verdict on Ana's latest offering was given four out of five stars.
'It's propulsive, action-packed and quite thrillingly bonkers. A duel between a man with a whopping flamethrower and a woman with a thunderous hose is worth the price of admission alone' stated the publication.
Rotten Tomato audiences, who have often been unforgiving of the starlet's movies, even ranked it an impressive 73 per cent.
Perhaps the review closest to her heart was one uttered by the lips of her megastar boyfriend.
During his press tour for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise told AP that Ballerina is 'outstanding'.
He also praised Ana's 'experience in action' during a chat with E! News. 'She's really good', he marveled.
Despite this, the movie has attracted some negative press - The Telegraph has dubbed it 'shoddy', while The Guardian handed it a measly three stars.
It has also reportedly underperformed at the Box Office.