Director:- Joe Wright
To be truthful, I am not usually a fan of action movies. I can't get away from the ripped muscles of Schwarzenegger and bursting T-shirts of Van Damme. But a 16 year old female assassin? Hmmm, maybe this could be a intriguing?
Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice and Atonement) begins the film neatly- showing the viewer a little, but not enough to give the film away. We see Hanna (Saoirse Ronan), the aforementioned 16 year old enforced hermit/would be assassin, cooped up in a cabin with her ex-CIA father Erik (Eric Bana) in the wild backwoods of Finland. Erik has taught Hanna all she know with the mere aid of an encyclopedia and a book of fairytales, not to mention razor sharp hunting and self defence skills. Well what's in store for Hanna- we definitely know that she will be pursued by the spooky Marissa (Blanchett), but the rest? Watch it for yourself.
Hanna definitely has a little bite....
Pleasingly for an action we are rarely exposed to dynamite or gimmicky gadgets, the characters instead relying on their wits and brain power to gain an upper hand. Hanna definitely has a little bite. Wright was able to create a certain mood and atmosphere particularly during showing Hanna amongst the barren landscapes of both the hot and cold deserts. The viewer is constantly shown the contrast in Hanna's character. She possesses survival skills far beyond her tender years, but is fearfully lacking in conversational and inter-personal skills akin to a sufferer of autism. The exchanges between Hanna and the annoying English teenager were excellent. On the one hand Hanna, for the first time seems to have a genuine friend, yet is unable to let her get too close due to her ongoing mission. Hanna enjoys the close, fuzzy nature of the friendship, but we know she could probably kill the girl with her thumb.
By halfway I was staring at the walls...
Despite the excellent Hanna character, she is let down in fairness by a contrived plot, fed all too tenuously. Our initial excitement is let down and by the halfway point I not only wondered where the film was going but found myself staring at the walls. The film is very stylish, looks and sounds good but this doesn't make up for a plot that leaps from point to point. The one area where we hope an action film would be good, the fight scenes, where a little poor. I found myself viewing a 16 year old girl battering fully grown thugs thinking, 'hmmm, can't see it to be honest'. Hanna aimed for Kill Bill and The Matrix, but achieved Scooby Doo.
I would still recommend watching Hanna, if only to see the piercing blue eyes of Saoirse Ronan. Beware of the plot, make allowances for it, but enjoy the dichotomy of the character Hanna.
IMDB.com Rating:- 6.8 from 132,279 votes
Supermegahybrid Film Rating:- 3 stars
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