Flick Flak: Hanna
Hanna
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett
12A, 111mins
I’ve not really decided which side of the fence to move to from my comfortable position on said garden-divider. Either Hanna is: a really interesting, cinematic and entertaining action film with great music, or: Jason Bourne has a daughter in a more absurdly-plotted version of a Bourne film, which throws in comedic caricatures to confusing effect.
For me the two stars of this film are Saoirse Ronan, who at the age of 17 is looking like a fantastic actress, and Joe Wright, whose directing talent has, until now, been showcased through decent period pieces (Pride and Prejudice and Atonement).
Ronan brings everything to the film, playing a 16-year-old raised as an assassin who is utterly innocent and naïve to the ways of the world yet also a ruthless killing machine. She manages to balance the confusion of those aspects really well, as does the film itself. Hanna plays on ideas of innocence, for instance setting a chase and fight sequence in an abandoned fairytale village themed amusement park, as well as having Hanna react with self-defensive violence to a boy trying to kiss her, while clearly not having the capacity to see anything sexual in kissing a girl she befriends.
The other thing that separates Hanna from other action films is its style, for which I’m crediting Joe Wright but I’m sure the writers and director of photography deserves plaudits too. The cinematography is unique, and employs a lot of very short sharp cuts in some scenes to make the audience feel the disorientation of the characters. Together with the music (from the Chemical Brothers) the style of the film alone is enough to get the audience excited, and thankfully the content of the film does not then leave you disappointed. The fights are fast and violent, and more than once I was surprised that the film was only a 12A - I assume the lack of bad language and sex meant it passed.
My issue with Hanna is that I was never sure how seriously I was supposed to take it. The story is relatively moving, with numerous references to how Hanna has missed out on the life of an ordinary child, and much of the action centres on vicious people coming after her. Yet these people seem to be caricatures - for instance Tom Hollander’s camp German hitman and his two skinhead, jack-booted henchmen. Cate Blanchett’s accent seemed over-the-top, and the British family that Hanna finds herself attached to is equal parts funny and irritating.
Giving the film the benefit of the doubt, it could be that the film portrays the world we live in in such a bizarre way (weird people, creepy settings, etc.) to put us in the place of Hanna, who, having grown up in the Arctic forests, finds everything new and odd.
This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the film, I certainly did. I just found the inconsistencies in tone a bit distracting. Perhaps it was aiming for A Clockwork Orange-style atmosphere of kooky unpleasantness with the three German hitmen, but for me they were only comical and not intimidating.
Overall though I did enjoy the film, and it is really interesting, especially as a move away from the director’s usual style; Atonement is stylishly shot for a period piece, but next to Hanna it is pretty standard.
I look forward to seeing Saoirse Ronan in future films; with Atonement, The Way Back and now Hanna under her belt she has already proven herself to be versatile (as well as out-acting Keira Knightly as a 13-year-old).
Have you seen Hanna? Comment below with your thoughts!
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2 Comments – Post a comment
neilramsden
Commented 12 months ago - 16th May 2011 - 15:18pm
Forgot to say, on my blog are reviews of Scream 4 (which is now out of cinemas) and Fast and Furious 5 (which you can still catch I think) - www.facehugger.tumblr.com
Stormer007
Commented 12 months ago - 16th May 2011 - 19:08pm
I thoroughly enjoyed Hanna.
I thought it was an excellent movie and they'd clearly put a lot of time into the film. Plus I just love Cate Blanchett.
Awesome review dude :)