Review of Anna (2019) by Mrmoviebuff — 05 Oct 2019

French filmmaker Luc Besson ('Leon' and 'The Fifth Element') once had it all, from making good films, to being the name to look out for in a director. Which is why it's all the more disappointing to see that he fails to deliver another exciting thriller, and just gives us a disposable and forgettable one in 'Anna', a thriller which continues to use the gimmick of narrative tricks to try and connect a few puzzle pieces to surprise the audience, but I found myself frustrated and tired.

Our main title character is played by Sasha Luss, who may have a future in acting in more big-budget films, but here, she is resorted to implausible cliches. She is sent on a variety of missions, and takes order from a stern and firm woman named Olga (Helen Mirren).

Anna is always reluctant to take on these missions, but she is always told that she has no choice. Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy are also wasted here as just the two hard-male stereotypes who are both in some way connected to Anna's missions.

Time and time again, the movie pulls the rug to try and surprise us, there was once a time where this type of non-linear narrative tricks was put to good use. Here, as I said, it's frustrating and tiring, I found myself caring less and less as the runtime went on.

This movie uses so many outdated formulas and cliches, it's a wonder why a studio would green-light this for a 2019 release... overall, I think some audiences who have never seen films (better films) like this before will probably be surprised by what they see, but if you've seen the better films like this before, then you will be both underwhelmed and disappointed, or you might just forget you ever saw this film to begin with.