You have to give Luc Besson his due, he certainly knows his way around an action scene.

Starring in this collection of action scenes we have Anna, a struggling young woman who finds herself coerced into becoming an assassin; looking for a way out while coldly executing a series of targets. There’s nothing new in here, but it’s all competently handled and, if a stylish action film is what you are looking for, Anna certainly won’t disappoint.

The film starts in 1985 and then jumps forward to 1990 where we meet our heroine, working in a Moscow market. It’s here that a scout for a Paris modeling agency discovers her and convinces her that fashion modelling is the career for her. Things go swimmingly until she executes an arms dealer, at which point the film jumps back to explain why.

This happens a lot. Things happen, after which we jump back for an explanation of the events, all of which makes for a nicely twisty plot in which each twist reveals a further plot thread.

This is certainly well handled, with Besson keeping the narrative clear throughout while also managing to insert minor details, the relevance of which is later revealed.

If you’ve seen Besson’s previous films — most notably La Femme Nikita — then you’ve already seen most of this story. That said, Besson’s take on the femme fatale offers a few twists that you don’t necessarily see coming.

It’s certainly not a bad film, but it’s not a great one either. You you fancy a blood-spattered, cold-war spy thriller then you could do a lot worse than seeing this one. If you don’t, you haven’t really missed anything either.