The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

You’re in school, you just realised that you had homework for this class and the teacher is only minutes away, what do you do? You run over to your friend and try to copy it really quick. The only problem with that is your friend copied it from this other kid who isn’t exactly the sharpest kid in school. This will probably get you a poor grade on the assignment and you in trouble for cheating. Well, the filmmakers of Anna, among many others, should learn that copying is lazy.

Anna follows struggling young Russian girl Anna (Sasha Luss) is recruited by Agent Alex Tchenkov (Luke Evans) to become an assassin for the KGB, but Anna soon realises this is not what she signed up for. With no promise of the freedom she was promised after fulfilling her role in the KGB, and as missions get more complicated with CIA interference, Anne will do anything to get her freedom. Can she survive?

It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not just that you have seen such a plot in numerous movies and series over the years, but also that Anna’s director, Luc Besson, made a very similar (but better) film called La Femme Nikita in 1990.

Anna’s main difference from countless similar works is how it deals with time and structure; the film goes back and forth in time with flashbacks that reveal something new that the audience didn’t know. This technique helps complicate the plot when it comes to having two agencies and multiple parties involved with different motives. However, as this technique is repeated over and over again throughout the film, audiences can get confused or even frustrated while trying to keep up.

The action is pretty standard with one protagonist taking on dozens of men and beating them all, and the film does contain violent graphic content more than just the usual bullets and bleeding.

For the acting, Sasha Luss fails to show the adequate acting chops that qualify her to take such a leading role. Instead, Luss barely shows any emotion as a character who is in a constant internal and external struggle to survive and earn her freedom. Luss’s looks draw the audience to her with superficial charisma, but, as the first glance is over, her lack of acting experience and perhaps even talent is evident. Luke Evans isn’t any better with one poker face expression that lasted the entire film, even through the action scenes, love scenes, and even death scenes. On the other hand, Helen Mirren (playing Agent Alex’s boss, Olga) is a breath of fresh air in the film; her character has depth and dimension mainly through her performance with subtle but poignant facial expressions. Playing CIA agent Lenny Miller, Cillian Murphy gave a performance that showed prominent acting skills and was able to give his character some dimensionality.

 Will you remember Anna? Probably not.                                 

However, if you are not already sick of this scenario, and seeing a female protagonist beat up dozens of men, then go ahead.