Anna

Anna

If not for Luc Besson directing “Anna,” it would seem like a bad remake of his own quirky, visually stylish action epics that fails miserably and only gets worse as it goes along. But “Anna” was written and directed by Besson himself, and it still comes off as an ill-conceived pastiche of his greatest hits. Given the massive box-office failure of his last film, the grandiose sci-fi saga “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” it’s understandable that he might want to retreat to something a little more tried and true at this point in order to re-establish himself commercially but even die hard fans are likely to have a hard time working up much enthusiasm for this shockingly lazy piece of connect-the-dots hackwork.

Set in 1990, the film begins in Moscow where we meet Anna (Sasha Luss), a beautiful young Russian who is selling nesting dolls at a market when she is spotted by a scout for a French modeling agency and sent off to Paris to work. Once there, she quickly catches the eye of another countryman a wealthy businessman who serves as one of the investors in the firm that he funds through his illegal sale of weapons to the enemies of all mankind and after a couple months worth of flirtation, it looks as though she is about to go through with going to bed with him until she abruptly ends things by calmly putting a bullet in his head.

Three years before that, Anna was living on the fringes with an abusive criminal boyfriend and desperately trying to find some way out of her wretched existence. That opportunity presents itself in Alex (Luke Evans), a KGB agent who recognizes her potential beauty plus brains plus ambition equals usefulness and offers her an opportunity to join up with him and his boss, the imperious Olga (Helen Mirren, clearly using this film as her audition reel for the live action remake of “The Incredibles”) with the promise that she will be allowed to walk away after five years of service.

Back in 1990, Anna is still posing as an up-and-coming model while establishing a relationship with fellow mannequin Maud (Lera Abova) often over a dead body or two and usually while wearing some kind of fetish wear and carrying on a clandestine affair with Alex on the side. Eventually, her cover is blown by Lenny Miller (Cillian Murphy), an American CIA agent who wants to use her for his own nefarious ends in order to settle a blood debt established in a prologue that is otherwise too confusing for words.

With no other choice left, Anna agrees and even sleeps with him as well. But soon enough she just wants out from under all sides and so uses her wits, her sexuality and her ability to kill many people while wearing what appears to be the entire Victoria’s Secret spring line.

Now, for those who have memories which span a longer period of time than others, this description of “Anna” may sound uncannily like “La Femme Nikita,” the 1990 action hit that represented Besson’s first major international success. In reality it is so similar in so many aspects that it appears as though Besson exhumed an early draft of that screenplay and simply filmed it after altering the character names and some of the locations. (This could account for why the story insists on taking place around 1990 even though all the characters’ technology throughout is almost distractingly anachronistic.)

If Besson had chosen to rework old ground as a means of examining how attitudes towards gender in genre filmmaking have changed since “La Femme Nikita” came out, then that might have been an interesting approach (especially given that the film is being released in conjunction with several allegations of sexual assault including rape against Besson over the past year or so), but here the only new wrinkle is a hurriedly jumbled timeline whereupon a shocking revelation occurs and then rewinds back to explain what led up to said revelation over a large chunk of running time. This does nothing good or interesting for anything happening onscreen; it’s obvious this was done only in hopes viewers wouldn’t notice how incredibly predictable everything really is.

I have loved Besson’s films passionately since I was young and have always appreciated his movies for their unique style, for how they’re shot with such precision by gifted cinematographers like Thierry Arbogast whose work frequently collaborates with Besson’s; for their tightly edited action sequences which are often more intricate than people give them credit for being able to notice; for his talent at crafting compelling stories populated exclusively by women whom he writes great roles into every single one he directs yes, even “Valerian.”

It blows my mind that none of these things seem evident in this film. Rather than the infectious and almost gleeful energy that propels most of his best-known works, Besson comes across here as going through the motions; despite the presence behind the scenes contributions from longtime collaborators like Arbogast, editor Julien Rey, and composer Eric Serra (all three of whom have done better work elsewhere), it’s hard to think of a single word applicable to any aspect of this movie other than “bland.”

There are two exceptions I can think of on that front Anna’s debut as an assassin during a crowded restaurant shootout where she ends up using plates broken off from tables as lethal weapons against her attackers, and a montage sequence that cuts between Anna working as both a model and a hitwoman but those aside, the action beats are all humdrum and there isn’t much comedy to be found anywhere.

(The film does have one good idea the notion of a cutthroat killer infiltrating the equally cutthroat world of high fashion modeling but apart from the aforementioned montage and an ill conceived moment where Anna gets back at Terry Richardson stand in creepy photographer who tried taking advantage of her sexually while they were alone together during shoot set against bright white backdrop filled with mirrors angled so that every inch said room reflects multiple images each showing nothing but anna posing nude) as for Sasha Luss, she is indeed beautiful but doesn’t bring anything else interesting or compelling enough to sustain attention throughout entire movie certainly not when compared against screen presence brought by actresses like Anne Parillaud (“Nikita”), Natalie Portman (“Leon: Professional”), Milla Jovovich (“The Fifth Element”), or Cara Delevingne (“Valerian”).

Certainly, Besson has had his share of bad movies in the past; even in such clunkers as “The Family” and “The Lady,” he was at least trying. But “Anna” is so meandering and lethargic that it’s hard to believe he was present for most of its production. He gives us two good action scenes, some pretty underwear and a Helen Mirren performance that is good for a few minutes’ distraction but won’t eat up much time on any later Lifetime Achievement highlight reels.

I’m sure someone will object that, given the continuing cloud of suspicion hanging over him, Besson should not be allowed to make or release anything right now. Ironically enough, if this had happened to “Anna” if it had disappeared altogether it would have done him a favor.

Watch Anna For Free On Gomovies.