Anna

An alternative to Red Sparrow, or rather La Femme Nikita, made by the pop-culture lover of European action films Luc Besson, who cast an unknown girl with a sexy look and long legs instead of an A-list actor. The plot is more complex on the surface, with a lot of flashbacks and time jumps, but in the end it's all about the same: everybody betraying everybody, it's just a matter of how cool they are while doing that. Helen Mirren is the coolest by far, the rest are more or less OK. Ironically, Anna is a film with damnably little action, and the delicious restaurant scene touted in the trailer is the actually the only proper action scene of the whole film. This is impressive, but Besson traditionally gives way to a certain degree of raw reality and leans more towards the style of an action ballet in the style of John Woo, where everything looks gorgeous, everything moves along nicely and the cameraman rotates around the main character in style, but the heroine doesn't grow on you, nor does the main male cast, so all that's left is the aforementioned old lady, whose behaviour and appearance safely evokes echoes of the Cold War of the 1980s and 90s in a typically Russian crude style. And one more thing, the production really messed-up the nineties setting, in one scene there are cars with LED lights on the road, and there are mobile phones everywhere. (17/09/2019)

I’ll be honest, this was kind of a silly film. Although Luc Besson finetuned his style, and it was even entertaining, it was also disarmingly dumb. Given my yesterday’s rating of Ready or Not, I must admit I seem to have a soft spot for anorexics with a titanium jaw and an impressive body count. Anyway, I had a good time watching and didn’t have to worry about getting bored for even a second. I noticed that Luc Besson didn’t hesitate to rip off his own Nikita in some scenes, and that Helen Mirren’s character didn’t need to wear leather boots to make it obvious that she was working for KGB. (07/01/2020)

A stylish action movie with an atomic blonde in the role of a brilliant spy. High-octane fun with breathtaking choreography and a perfect team of actors in the supporting roles. It’s just the kind of nonsense that, despite being terribly naïve, was made with such gusto that you’re going to want to watch it more than many an Oscar winner. Besson’s still got it. (30/09/2019)

Luc Besson serves up a great spy action thriller with a sex appeal-laden Sasha Luss. It's exactly the kind of gritty action flick that has been missing from cinemas for the last few years. The main character is having a hard time in life, in fact she's almost broke until she gets the opportunity to become a KGB government assassin with no competition. Cillian Murphy as the CIA chief and Luke Evans from the KGB are also great. The frequent time jumping is slightly confusing at first, but it gets proper meaning as the film progresses and there are surprisingly enough unexpected twists. There could have been more action, but when it comes down to it, you'll be sweating pretty hard. The five-minute restaurant scene in one take rivals John Wick, and cutting guys with a torn plate instead of a knife is an awesome idea! There are more than enough headshots and dead bodies. I had fun, just what I needed at the movies this summer. 80% (16/07/2019)

Anna is the best European mainstream spy flick since Skyfall. It is stylishly filmed, with a constantly surprising screenplay focusing not only on the action, but also on the characters. It is also well cast and wonderfully balanced politically (CIA vs. KGB). The choreography of the fight scenes, chases and shootouts is precise. Sexually passionate (Anna with men), emotionally tender (Anna with her lesbian girlfriend), seductively promiscuous through and through and as relationally treacherous as the whole dark world of secret agents. As far as spy thrillers go, I maximally enjoyed everything about this film, plus it surprised me with its clever humor and original interpretation of traditional genre motifs. Besson has a peace-loving European heart and is still a great filmmaker! (29/07/2020)