Anna

Written and directed by Luc Besson, Anna follows Sasha Luss’ title character as she becomes a feared government assassin with ties to both the American and Russian sides. It becomes clear fairly early on that Besson proves unable to bring anything terribly new or innovative to an almost excessively familiar genre, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the filmmaker’s decision to employ a time-shifting, jigsaw-puzzle-like structure paves the way for a narrative that’s often exceedingly erratic – with the movie’s less-than-consistent atmosphere compounded by a head-scratching dearth of action sequences. (The first instance of such doesn’t come around until about the 40 minute mark, and though it’s certainly worth the wait, the remainder of the overlong proceedings boasts just one more fight-based interlude.) The midsection is consequently defined by a serious and palpable lull that threatens to turn off the viewer completely, as Besson’s screenplay places an often unreasonable emphasis on Anna’s romantic exploits and her efforts at playing the two sides against each other (ie some of this stuff is interesting, admittedly, but it mostly comes off as generic and paint-by-numbers in its execution). By the time the rather anticlimactic conclusion rolls around, Anna has cemented its status as a periodically compelling yet mostly tedious spy thriller that’s decidedly (and aggressively) lacking in actual thrills – which is too bad, certainly, given Besson’s obvious facility for this sort of thing and the strength of the various performances (ie Luss’ surprisingly decent turn is matched by an effective supporting cast that includes Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Helen Mirren).

** out of ****