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. (09/17/2019)

I would say this film is such a Best Of Luc Besson. A strong heroine, her strong story, some humor, twists and turns aplenty (which give the story an original telling), a stylish atmosphere with typical Eric Serra music, and when it comes to the action, you know you'll want to watch The Professionalnext. Sasha Luss is not only easy on the eye, and a cool killing machine, I surprisingly trusted her as much as I did the regular girl (which is a big difference from Milla Jovovich), but Helen Mirren was absolutely stunning, clearly enjoying her commanding role. The only thing that distracted me – and this is something Besson and Co. could have been careful about – was the use of fairly modern technology in the late eighties and early nineties. Cell phones I might still accept, but laptops and USB drives are too much – it's a shame, because if this had been honest retro with all the trimmings, the film would have been even better. (08/31/2019)

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. (09/30/2019)

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. (01/07/2020)

It's not overwrought, it's just completely stupid. Plus, I simply don't give a damn about these sharp girls with anorexic body constitutions that would make their arms heavy even with a toothpick in their palms, and yet they're getting it on with a plethora of jacked-up bodyguards. Besson is already a parody of himself, but Europa Corp. is giving him work, so why would he change it. (09/29/2019)