It has been a rough couple of years for Luc Besson. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets became possibly the biggest flop in European cinematic history, despite – or, perhaps, because of – being the most expensive movie ever made there. It cost so much money that it sank his EuropaCorp studio, already struggling after other failures, deep into financial trouble. Then, in May, a rape allegation was filed with police by actress Sand Van Roy. That opened the door for a slew of others to come forward with their #MeToo stories about Besson. It was quite a fall for a man who had enjoyed the biggest hit of his career with 2014’s Lucy.
We’ll always have a soft spot for Besson here. Even if he had simply directed Nikita, that would have assured his place in GWG lore. But apart from that and Lucy, there was also Leon, Angel-A, The Fifth Element, The Messenger and Les Aventures Extraordinaires de Adele Blanc-Sec. Not all hits: not all necessarily focused on their action heroines. But in terms of overall contribution, he’s arguably the director who has given more than any big-budget film-maker to our genre. It’s like someone gave Andy Sidaris talent, and all the money he wanted.
Needless to say, we were excited to hear about Anna, which seemed like a return to his action heroine roots. Details were scant, beyond the cast announced as including supermodel Sasha Luss – who had a bit part in Valerian – along with Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, and Cillian Murphy. Normally, you’d be forgiven for rolling your eyes at the thought of a model acting… But Besson resurrected Milla Jovovich’s career after its disastrous start in the likes of Return to the Blue Lagoon, and she simply went on to become the queen of action heroines over the last couple of decades. Still, the lack of information was troubling, especially as the release date loomed ever closer. Well, trouble no more, because here’s the trailer:
It appears that Mirren plays her handler, Olga, and Murphy is the cop on the hunt for Anna. I think it’s safe to say this has just become 2019’s most anticipated movie in the GWG household. [Okay, maybe second, behind Godzilla: King of the Monsters] It looks like a slick, hard-hitting combination of Nikita and Atomic Blonde. Hey, if it’s even in the same area of quality as those, this will be money well spent. The tagline on the French poster translates as “A woman can hide another,” which seems to refer to the “supermodel by day, ass-kicking assassin by night” vibe I’m getting from it. It also seems to be riffing on the title of a 1983 French comedy starring Miou-Miou, Attention, une femme peut en cacher une autre! But the main thing is that it appears extremely solid on the action front.
Having overcome significant doubts as to whether it would ever be released, Anna hits US cinemas on June 21. Expect a review here very soon after that. With the rape charges being dropped in February by French prosecutors due to a lack of evidence, perhaps 2019 will be the year Besson’s fortunes take a much-needed upswing.