The film stars Sasha Luss as the eponymous assassin, alongside Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren, and Alexander Petrov.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the director of the newly renamed SVR-RF, Vassiliev, refuses to honor the original agreement; because he believes that the only path to retirement is death.

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.

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.

[14] 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.

"[19] Movie Nation critic Roger Moore gave the film one and a half out of four 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".

[21] 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.

And despite constantly playing fast and loose with the chronology [...], he delivers a sleek, largely efficient mechanism of adrenaline-soaked déjà vu.

"[22] 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.