REVIEW: Hanna

My Rating: 

One part fairytale and two parts action thriller with a little coming-of-age story mixed in, Hanna is a movie that defies genre definition. No matter how you define it, Joe Wright's latest movie will have most moviegoers hooked. Add in a thumping techno soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers and you have a movie that is familiar, yet uniquely all its own.



Once upon a time there was a little girl named Hanna (Saoirse Ronan). Hanna lives with her ex-CIA father Erik (Eric Bana) in a small cabin in the subarctic forests of Northern Finland. She is being trained by her father to be an assassin with one purpose, to kill Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) and the men that hunt them. Erik realizes that he cannot shelter and train Hanna forever, so he gives Hanna a choice in the form of an old military tracking beacon, a remnant from his past. Activate the beacon and alert Wiegler of their position, or do nothing and remain in the forest. Yearning to see the world she has only read about, Hanna activates the beacon. Erik leaves Hanna and the beacon behind, knowing that Wiegler will take Hanna, as this is what they have trained for Hanna's entire life. Hanna is to kill Wiegler, escape and reunite with her father in Berlin. Without giving everything away, Hanna soon finds herself being chased by Wiegler's men across Europe in an attempt to reunite with her Father in a world that she has not been trained for. 


Hanna could have been a fairly generic cat-and-mouse action thriller, but Director Joe Wright framed this story in the trappings of a fairytale. The result is a dreamy and surreal film punctuated with some spectacular action sequences. One sequence worth noting is a four and a half minute long steadycam scene in which Eric Bana leaves a bus terminal, enters a subway and is confronted by four or five of Wiegler's men and proceeds to kick some ass. While most viewers won't notice, those that do will be blown away. It should be noted that the fight choreography in this film is top notch. Jeff Imada, the man who choreographed the Bourne Trilogy was brought on for Hanna. Aiding the awesome fight choreography was a visceral, techno soundtrack of The Chemical Brothers. Serving as the soundtrack and some of the sound effects, the score for Hanna was beautifully woven into the movie. To get a taste check out one of the songs below...

I think over all the other reasons why this movie was so strong, and so unique was the performance by Saoirse Ronan. She was able to capture both a cold-blooded killer as well as an innocent young girl in one performance. There are few other young actresses that could have pulled that off. Ronan carried this movie with a stellar performance. Bana and Blanchett also had two very strong performances; although I do have to admit that Blanchett's southern accent boarded on being kind of campy.


My one main complaint of this movie is that too much of Hanna's history was reveled in the third act. I would have rather had the writers leave it a mystery. Some things are just better left unsaid. Overall though, it is a minor nitpick to an awesome film. Hanna is definitely one of the strongest films to come out recently. And will probably remain such until the big blockbusters start dropping in the end of May. (It is hard to believe that the summer blockbuster season is almost here)

Released: April, 2011
Length: 1 hr 51 min
Directed by: Joe Wright
Written by: Seth Lochhead, David Farr

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Williams, Tom Hollander