Geekscape Movie Reviews: Hanna
What do you get when you combine movies like Kick Ass and Run Lola Run – and a female Jason Bourne?
You get Hanna, a thoughtful action thriller from director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement), who describes his movie as being “part fairy tale” with exhilarating action scenes, multilayer characters, compelling story, and a thumping sound track that makes this my favorite film this year.
Starring sixteen year old Academy Award Nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), as the fiery Hanna, who has been genetically engineered and trained in the secluded wilds of Finland by her ex-CIA father, Erik (Eric Bana), to be a deadly assassin. With revenge on her mind, Hanna has no other goal but to kill the high level CIA boss, Marissa (Cate Blanchett), who killed her mother when she was an infant. Hanna embarks on a cat and mouse hunt that begins in Finland, travels through stunning Morocco and ends in Berlin amongst a fairy tale inspired theme park –literally.
Hanna is hunting with a bow and arrow, and she easily takes down an Elk. As she’s butchering the animal we hear a voice proclaiming, “You’re dead.” She pauses for only a moment and then lunges at the voice, screaming fiercely and in attack mode.
The voice is her father who is training her to be ever vigilant and self sustaining.
Hanna is no ordinary 16 year old. She is living in a remote cabin that resembles something from a fairy tale like Snow White in the wilds of a snowy forest. Her only companions include her father, a tattered Brothers Grimm fairy tale book, and an outdated encyclopedia – in which she can recite from cover to cover.
Her father has taught her many things like how to fight, improvise, and even speak several languages, but in doing so, Hanna has missed out on so much. The time has come, and Hanna decides she is ready, but for what? As she pushes a button that turns on a signal, we are soon to find out.
The focus of Hanna’s revenge, Marissa, played by Cate Blanchett.
When it comes to portraying a female in the role of an assassin, it’s refreshing to see a female character like Hanna, that rely on skill, knowledge, and expertise rather than sexy outfits and the size of her chest and the length of her legs. So thank you to the writers, Seth Lochhead (screenplay & story) and David Farr (screen play) for breaking away from recent Hollywood trends that objectify women in TV/films and running with something different and far more satisfying.
The movie Hanna is listed as an action/thriller while director Wright prefers to describe it as a drama with action. His description lends to the characters having more depth, and a broader and more satisfying story so I am entitled to agree with him on that sub genre we are seeing more and more often.
While some of the stunts and the amount of henchmen Hanna takes down pushes the limits of plausibility, the overall film is so satisfying that I didn’t quibble over the details. Visually, Wright avoids and proves that you do not have to employ a bumpy camera to convey action sequences and instead uses many steady and framed shots that show provide a much clearer vision of the story.
Another aspect that plays well to the film is the score that was composed by The Chemical Brothers. The body wriggling beats compliment the overall movement of the story and is a wonderful example of how the right music can take your film to the next level.
Yes, Hanna is a merciless assassin, but she is also an extremely naïve teenager that lends to some lite-comedic scenes in the film and helps to keep the character of Hanna from being some sort of automaton. I impart a good portion of that to the actress Ronan in her portrayal of Hanna. In some of those lighter scenes she shows us an innocent side that conveys that she has a soul and is not some unfeeling product of vengeful father.
Eric Bana (Troy, The Hulk) is Australian who speaks throughout the movie in English but with a German accent. Cate Blanchett is British who speaks with a Southern Accent (Virginian maybe?). Ronan is from New York, but grew up in Ireland, and speaks with mostly German accented English in the film. Is this important? Not really, I just wanted to point this out more as curiosity and a nod to their acting ability. It’s the sort of thing you only notice when it’s bad and in this case it’s not but it was a little unexpected hearing Blanchett with the Southern drawl. I wonder if it was in the original story or if she added it?
And more along those lines of in case you were wondering… how do you pronounce “Saiorise” which means freedom in Gaelic? So anyway “sur-shuh” is how she pronounces her first name, and incidentally Ronan, also means freedom in Gaelic.
Hanna is a what all action movies should aspire to with a pulsing soundtrack, scenes that visually make sense, a fulfilling story that ends with most of the loose ends tied up convincingly, and my time happily spent in a movie theater being awed and entertained. In fact, I think I might go see it again…. a rarity for me.
Editor’s Note: Look for our interviews with Saiorise Ronan and Joe Wright at Wondercon on this week’s podcast.
This film was screened March 29th at the Seven Gables Theatre in Seattle, Washington by Allie Hanley.
