Release Date: 4/8/11
Hanna, directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, The Soloist) is an action thriller about a teenage assassin. Its a little Bourne Identity with some Kill Bill mixed in, and is a real surprise in a weak month of April. It puts a nice little spin on the revenge thriller genre and it does so with its kinetic action sequences, pulse pounding score and top notch acting. The story isn’t anything special and it doesn’t have many twists or turns but the positive outweigh the negative with this one as it ends up being an awesome art house action film with a little bit for everyone to enjoy.
Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a teenage girl who has the strength, the endurance and the smarts of a soldier, which all comes from her being raised by her father (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA agent. They are living in the wilds of Finland where her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all focused on making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is when she is sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys secretly across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative (Cate Blanchett) who has some secrets of her own. As Hanna nears her ultimate target, she faces surprising revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her life.
The first thing worth mentioning about this film is the soundtrack. Nowadays the new thing is to have a musician or band do the score for your film. It started with Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead as he created a harrowing score for There Will Be Blood and most recently is Oscar winner Trent Reznor’s haunting score for The Social Network or Daft Punk’s techno mix for Tron Legacy. The Chemical Brothers get their shot here and they knock it out of the park. Their fast paced beats mix perfectly with the beautifully executed action scenes. Once the music picks up the movie does too and it rarely lets up.
Director Joe Wright who has done well-crafted period piece dramas such as Pride and Prejudice and Atonement really let me down with the “to Oscar baity for its own good” film The Soloist. He kind of left my radar after that stinker, but now with Hanna he is back with a vengeance. He shows here that he is still capable of developing a great film. The script on the other hand is nothing out of ordinary, it at times feels like its been done before and at some points it even gets a bit silly, when it’s all said and done there isn’t really much to it. But the execution of the action and acting is legit. It keeps you entertained for a little less than two hours which tends to fly by. Joe Wright is also very good at capturing some great set pieces, this film is extremely well shot and if it came out later in the year could possibly be a contender for best cinematography. He has another one of his famous long takes and this one is even more impressive because it combines a well choreographed fight scene.
The acting is also very good. Ronan could end up being the next Cate Blanchett, which would be a nice career for the young actress. She is visceral and fierce in her portrayal and she made the unrealistic teenage assassin almost believable. Blanchett is very good as the evil, manipulative villain. Bana in his best performance since Munich is pretty badass, especially in a couple of awesome fight scenes. Tom Hollander (In the Loop) also is really good as the sadistic man sent to try and find Hanna. He does an extremely creepy whistle that rivals the dueling banjos in Deliverance.
This movie was on the brink of being amazing. The unoriginal storyline and mediocre script hinder its path to greatness. Hanna shoots for the heart but just misses, but overall gets the job done adequately.
STAMP IT!!!
IMDB: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Moviewiseguys: 8.0/10
