Hanna- Grade A-

Starring: Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones), Eric Bana (The Time Traveler's Wife, Munich), Cate Blanchett (Lord of the Rings, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Directed By: Joe Wright (Atonement)
Release Date: April 8, 2011
Opening Weekend: $12,370,549
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 1 Hour 51 Min
Synopsis: Girl is raised by her ex- CIA agent father in middle of woods in Finland with no other human contact. Father teaches girl to be perfect assassin. Girl turns 16, father sends her out to kill mysterious, deadly CIA agent responsible for girl's mother's death. Girl experiences outside world for first time while tracking agent down and discovers life changing secret her father has been keeping about her.





So How Was It?: Start with your favorite creepy fairy tale (think Red Riding Hood meets Hanzel and Gretel) and a feisty female assassin (think Kick Ass). Mix the two. Stir in some some epic fight scenes, a cup of revenge, a pinch of dry humor and a generous sprinkling of mystery. (Don't forget to coat the pan with a nice thick layer of emotionless killing.) Bake for two hours and voila! you've got Hanna.

The film is successful with many things: its gorgeous cinematic look, believable actors, original concept (i.e. the reason why Hanna has been trained as an assassin) and its less-is-more attitude with back stories on the main characters as a method to build suspense. If you're someone who needs to have fully fleshed out and humanized characters to enjoy a film, be ready to be annoyed. But if you're more like the average movie goer whose just there to have a good time, you'll be able to forgive the film's often head scratching plot points (i.e. Bana's character's strange ability to cross land and sea at super human speeds) and minimal character development. Even after spending almost two hours rooting for and traveling with Hanna, we don't really have any idea of who she is. Although this adds to the mystery and tension of the film, after a while it begins to feel like more of a downside than a strength.


The film ends rather abruptly. As fun as the ride was, where did it really take us? It's like we got buckled in, slowly chugged up the hill, made it to the top, started to go down and suddenly swerved onto a different track only to find it was already time to get off. Unless its a setup for a sequel, the film needed to be a good 10 or 15 minutes longer to really feel finished.








Acting Wise: The most memorable member of this stellar cast is lead Saoirse Ronan. Through her expressive magnetic eyes she manages to build a character that is both pitifully helpless and ruthlessly independent all at the same time. She steals every scene she's in with her blunt, often comedic dialogue and her sharp commanding physical presence. What makes everything even more impressive is that Saoirse was only 15 when the movie was being filmed. 15!

Blanchett is surprisingly (or not so surprisingly to those who saw her in Lord of the Rings) intimidating and terrifying. One glare from those cold, calculating eyes is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine.




 Technically: It's difficult to say which was better; the thumping edgy house music soundtrack (all original music by The Chemical Brothers) or the eye catching experimental cinematography. With the latter, Wright does seem to take his obsession with spiraling camera shots and strobe lights a bit too far.

The look of this film is rich throughout; the breathtaking snowy Finnish woods, the wild colorful deserts of Morocco, the haunting abandoned theme park of Germany. Every choice of scenery is deliberately strong.



 Best Scene: Both of Bana's major fight scenes, most memorably the long single take shot from the bus station to the subway. It's not quite as long as Wright's notorious single take beach scene from Atonement, but it's equally as jaw dropping because of all the complex fighting choreography involved.




The Shallow Editorial End: Eric Bana is shirtless (albeit briefly) in three clips. If you've ever seen Troy, you'll know that that is reason enough to check the film out.

Even with the four foot long mermaid blond hair and au naturel look, Saoirse is stunning. Talent and beauty? This girl is going to have a long career ahead of her, no doubt about i.





To See or Not to See?: See it.There's something inherently interesting about revenge assassin thrillers and Hanna is no exception. You'll have fun, guaranteed.

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVENT SEEN THE FILM

For Those Who Have Seen It: A prequel needs to be made! What the hell happened between Blanchett and Bana's characters? Who is Hanna's biological father? What were the "certain choices" Blanchett's characters said she made? What suddenly made her want to end the program so bad?