Anna (2019)

Anna, released in 2019 and co-produced by Luc Besson's own EuropaCorp alongside TF1 Films Production and Summit Entertainment, arrives wearing the familiar clothes of a Euro-thriller with Hollywood ambitions. The premise is straightforward enough: a young Russian woman, Anna Poliatova, is recruited into a life of high-stakes assassination, her modelling career serving as cover for considerably more dangerous work. Shot across France, Russia, Serbia and Guadeloupe (the last of which gives this one its spot on a certain world movie tour), the film is a polished but unremarkable entry in a genre that has produced both classics and genuine duds in roughly equal measure over the past few decades.

Besson has been here before, of course, and more than once. His earlier work in the assassin-thriller space, particularly Léon: The Professional (1994), set a bar that has followed him around ever since, and comparisons are pretty much unavoidable when the premise rhymes so closely. By 2019, his reputation had taken some knocks, both critically and personally, and Anna was widely read as an attempt to revisit territory that had once served him very well. Whether that return trip was worth making is precisely the sort of question a film review exists to answer. The production has the glossy surface you would expect from a collaboration between EuropaCorp and Summit: well-dressed locations, competent cinematography, and action sequences choreographed with obvious care. It is never a cheap-looking film, even when it is struggling elsewhere. For context on the range of what Besson can do at full stretch, his earlier science-fiction work, The Fifth Element (1997), offers a useful point of comparison, a film that crackles with invention and a genuine sense of play.

The title role falls to Sasha Luss, a Russian model making her first substantial film appearance here (she had a small part in The Fifth Element, as it happens, though this is a very different ask). Alongside her, the film assembles a cast that, on paper, looks genuinely promising: Helen Mirren as a senior KGB handler, Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy as the various intelligence figures orbiting Anna's world, and Lera Abova in a supporting role. Mirren and Murphy in particular are the kind of performers who can elevate thin material through sheer authority, and both have demonstrated that ability across long and varied careers. Whether the script by Besson gives them the room to do so is another matter entirely. The action genre has produced some genuinely extraordinary work in recent years, as anyone who has watched The Raid 2 (2014) can attest, which makes it all the more obvious when a film in the same broad space is coasting rather than committed.

A-Z World Movie Tour Guadeloupe Luc Besson’s Anna is the cinematic equivalent of ordering your favorite dish at a restaurant, only to get a lukewarm microwave version with the same label. If you, like me, hold Léon: The Professional near and dear (where Jean Reno gave the performance of a lifetime and Besson’s direction feels electric) Anna lands like a soggy crumpet. It’s not a disaster, but it’s a letdown from a director who once made assassin ballets feel poetic. Sasha Luss plays the titular Anna, a model-turned-killer with a face that could kill… but mostly just stares blankly while doing it. There’s no spark here, no flicker of the magnetic intensity that made Jean Reno unforgettable. She’s less a character and more a mannequin in a catsuit, delivering lines like they’re IKEA assembly instructions. The supporting cast (including Helen Mirren and Cillian Murphy) try their best, but Besson gives them nothing to work with, like handing a symphony orchestra a kazoo and expecting jazz. The action scenes pop (slow-motion bullets, neon-soaked kills, and a dance sequence that’s visually slick) but they lack soul, feeling less like storytelling and more like a moodboard come to life. And the plot is a recycled game of spy-versus-spy that never commits to its own twists. By the end, you’ll wonder why anyone bothered keeping score. It's not all bad. Besson’s eye for color and composition still shine but when your film’s most memorable moment is a scene lifted from Kill Bill's outtakes, you’ve got problems.

And that, for me, is the real frustration walking away from Anna. It is not the kind of film you actively resent, because it is never quite bad enough to generate that particular heat. It is more the feeling of watching someone with genuine ability go through the motions, ticking boxes instead of taking risks. Besson clearly still has an eye for composition and colour, and there are individual moments here that remind you of what he is capable of. But a handful of nice shots does not make a film, and when the whole thing is over you are left with the nagging sense that everyone involved could have done considerably more. Some directors grow into their obsessions over time. Others keep returning to the same well and finding it a little shallower each visit. I genuinely hope Anna is not the last word on where Besson ends up, but it is hard to watch it and feel anything stronger than mild disappointment.

Rating: ★★½  | Year: 2019  | Watched: 2025-06-23

View on Letterboxd →

Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Anna (2019) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: fuboTV · YouTube TV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

More from Luc Besson: The Fifth Element (1997) · Léon: The Professional (1994)
More from France: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Letter from Siberia (1957) · Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Here and Elsewhere (1976)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)