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ANNA
***
Dir: Luc Besson (15, 90 mins)
Luc Besson retreads well-worn ground in a genre that he himself helped rebirth. The French director made Nikita back in 1990, a stylish, neon-drenched thriller with a beautiful female assassin in the shape of Anne Parillaud. Since then, there have been many violent hitwomen thrillers with varying degrees of success/grit/titillation – Atomic Blonde and the excellent Killing Eve being the most recent – with Charlize Theron and Jodie Comer athletically offing a slew of baddies. Here, Russian supermodel Sasha Luss plays the titular Anna in this John Wick-esque B-movie, capably taking down rooms full of men with fists, feet, knives and guns in hyper-kinetic style. Helen Mirren plays Luss’ handler, Olga, all big glasses and accent, whilst Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy are the other agents on her trail. Boasting high-octane action and a return to Besson’s comfortable stomping grounds after the big budget mega flop of Valerian, this should be a competent action adventure, if Luss’ acting skills are on par with her ass-kicking skills.
Opens July 5
words Keiron Self