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Anna (2019 feature film)
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Wikipedia article
'Anna' (stylized as 'ANA') is a 2019 action thriller film written, produced and directed by Luc Besson. The film stars Sasha Luss as the eponymous assassin, alongside Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren, and Alexander Petrov.
The US-France production was theatrically released in the United States on 21 June 2019 by Summit Entertainment and on 10 July 2019 by Path Distribution in France. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $31 million worldwide against a $30 million budget.
Plot
In 1990, Anna, a young Russian beauty who has been the victim of domestic abuse, will do anything to escape the life she is trapped in. In a twist of fate, she reluctantly accepts an offer by KGB officer Alex. After a year of training, she is to work as a KGB assassin for five years under a handler named Olga, after which she will be free to continue her life as she pleases. KGB head Vassiliev is not willing to honor this agreement, implying that the only way out of the KGB is death.
She goes undercover as a fashion model and is hired to work in Paris. At the same time, she completes various missions and assassinations. To avoid suspicions about her, she has a romantic relationship with fellow model Maude, endorsed by Olga. When she is found out by the CIA, she agrees to work for them as a double agent with Agent Miller as her handler, in exchange for the promise of immediate retirement and a protected life in Hawaii. Miller later tasks her with assassinating Vassiliev, with the CIA hoping that his absence would lead to smoother relations with the KGB. Anna kills Vassiliev and fights her way out of the KGB. She later arranges a meet with Alex and Miller, bartering information she stole from the two agencies in exchange for a temporary reprieve. As she is leaving, she is ambushed by Olga and shot for her betrayal. However, she uses a body double to fake her death and escape.
It is revealed that Olga had earlier discovered Anna's association with the CIA and the planned assassination of Vassiliev. Both women conspired to go along with the CIA's plan so that Olga could succeed Vassiliev and later faked Anna's execution to fool both agencies and set Anna free. As Olga moves into Vassiliev's former office, she views a recorded message left for her by Anna, who expresses her gratitude to Olga but reveals she kept evidence of Olga's involvement in Vassiliev's murder in case Olga betrays their agreement. Olga smiles in admiration, and proceeds to delete Anna's file from the KGB database.
Cast
* Sasha Luss as Anna Poliatova
* Helen Mirren as Olga
* Luke Evans as Aleksander "Alex" Tchenkov
* Cillian Murphy as Leonard Miller
* Lera Abova as Maude
* Alexander Petrov as Piotr
* Nikita Pavlenko as Vlad
* Anna Krippa as Nika
* Aleksey Maslodudov as Jimmy
* Eric Godon as Vassiliev
* Ivan Frank as Mossan
* Jean-Baptiste Puech as Samy
* Nastya Sten as Blonde Anna
* Andrew Howard as Oleg Filenkov
Production
On 9 October 2017, it was reported that Luc Besson's next film would be 'Anna,' starring newcomer Sasha Luss, along with Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, and Cillian Murphy. EuropaCorp produced the film while Lionsgate handled the distribution under their Summit Entertainment label.
Principal photography on the film began in early November 2017 in Belgrade. Various film scenes were also filmed in Moscow, Russia, in order to be more authentic.
Soundtrack
Summit Entertainment released the original soundtrack composed by ric Serra on 19 July 2019. The film also features additional music not included in the soundtrack.
Release
The film was released in the United States on 21 June 2019. It was released on Digital HD on 10 September 2019 and on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on 24 September 2019.
Reception
Box office
'Anna' grossed $7.7million in the United States and Canada, and $23.9million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31.6million.In the United States and Canada, the film opened alongside 'Child's Play' and 'Toy Story 4', and was expected to gross $24million from 2,150 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.4million on its first day, including $325,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $3.5million, finishing 11th at the box office.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "'Anna' finds writer-director Luc Besson squarely in his wheelhouse, but fans of this variety of stylized action have seen it all done before and better." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 81% (with an average 4 out of 5 stars).Peter Debruge of 'Variety' wrote, "'Anna' shows that Besson is the same filmmaker now that he was 20 years ago, and unlike his title character, who lithely adapts to whatever situation she's in, he's been telling roughly the same story over and over all this time." Brad Wheeler of 'The Globe and Mail' called the film "a near-parody non-thriller" and was critical of the story structure: "Anna relies on a time-shifting structure that is laughably exhausting."
Movie Nation critic Roger Moore gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, and wrote: "There are a lot of irritants and clumsy touches to Besson's latest, infuriatingly inferior version of 'La Femme Nikita' that ruin it." Moore criticized the "pointless flashbacks" and the cartoon physics of the fight scenes, though he praised Luss, writing that she "handles the action choreography with skill and emotes better than your average model turned actress".
Noel Murray of the 'Los Angeles Times' praised the film, "As a slick, over-the-top action picture, 'Anna' works splendidly" but says the film is overshadowed by Besson's offscreen personal issues. David Fear of 'Rolling Stone' stated, "This kind of Cold War-a-go-go, deadly-honeypot intrigue is harder to do well than you might think just ask the folks behind 'Red Sparrow'. So you appreciate it when someone like Besson can make it move like a pro. And despite constantly playing fast and loose with the chronology [...], he delivers a sleek, largely efficient mechanism of adrenaline-soaked dj vu." Bilge Ebiri of 'The New York Times' wrote: "Anna isn't as stylish or gripping as 'Nikita', but it does have its own demented charm, particularly in how it toys with structure, nesting competing narrative timelines within each other."
References
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