Anna

Anna is an action thriller starring newcomer Sasha Luss, alongside veterans Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, and Cillian Murphy. Anna Poliatova is a strikingly beautiful and intelligent young woman on the brink of a life destroying decision when she is given the opportunity to change her situation forever by becoming one of the world's most feared government assassins.

This plot is the same as all the others, it’s basically Atomic Blonde, meets Nikita, meets Red Sparrow. It was entertaining but predictable. Some of the fight sequences were choreographed well but at times weren’t very believable. In certain scenes I was sitting there saying, “how can one woman kill like 50 men in one scene?” It was another Power Rangers’ “Putty Patrollers situation”. It would have been nice to have seen something a bit more realistic and original in that aspect.

The acting was impressive for some and a letdown for others. Sasha Luss did a great job carrying this movie as Anna. She was able to bring the beauty, athleticism, mental and physical strength, cleverness, and resourcefulness to the role. Helen Mirren was a surprise addition. She is accomplished and well renowned actor, so I found this movie as an interesting choice for her. She, of course, did a great job and I liked her conniving, powerful, take no crap from anyone character. Cillian Murphy was intriguing in his role. I have noticed that he likes to choose a diverse array of projects. In this, he gave me a lot of range and I liked his conspiratorial role. The major disappointment for me came from Luke Evans. I’ve seen Luke in a few things and don’t mind him as an actor but he dropped the ball on this one. He was supposed to be Russian but didn’t have a Russian accent. There wasn’t a lot of character development there so he was boring to me and didn’t give me a lot of range in his acting.

All in all this movie was just okay. It would not have been worth paying for in a theater but it’s okay to catch at home on a lazy weekend.