Hanna (2011)

*Special shout-out to Bart Miller for his suggestion of this movie review. Glad to review for you.*


'Hanna' was directed by Joe Wright (Atonement) and stars Saoirse Ronan as a young girl raised in the wilderness by her father (Eric Bana) to protect herself and adapt to any dangers that may come her way, with the biggest threat coming from a shady industry and a ruthless agent (Cate Blanchett) willing to do anything to stop Hanna.

Wright's films are undoubtedly very pretty to look at. The cinematography is stunning from 'Atonement' to 'Anna Karenina' to even the abysmal 'Pan' and with 'Hanna' little has changed there. The film uses wide outdoors shots along with squeezed, almost claustrophobic city environments and it all helps to shape this world as seen by the young Hanna. She is an outsider in this world, in both her personality and even her stunning beauty Saoirse is given one of the best roles in her early career here and she plays the part well.

Eric Bana feels a little wasted here, with much of his presence relegated to the background and while I understand that his role is written this way, I feel that Bana himself lacks the charisma or presence to make even a background character stand out. I feel he is miscast frequently and he just comes off here as stale as ever. Cate Blanchett on the other hand does some good work here, playing one the big baddy of the film. She is completely unlikeable and you just can not wait for her to bite it, which is my perfect idea of a villain. You have to hate them, or feel anything beyond 'Bond Villain' tropes to have an effective villain and 'Hanna' delivers.

The film does suffer from several story and overall tone issues. The film does not seem to know whether it wants to be a straight action film, like 'Salt' or have a more dramatic and artistic approach to it, which is likely attributed to screenplay and director conflicts. Joe Wright is without a doubt a more artistic and visual director and the script for 'Hanna' gives off a more Jason Bourne vibe to it, so there are obvious tonal clashes throughout that can be quite off putting.

Overall, the film is worth a watch for any fan of action and strong visuals in films. The film kind of came and went due to some misleading marketing and promotional material who seemed to have wanted the audience to think it was another Bourne flick which were popular at the time. Give it a chance though, and you will see something a little deeper than that and for the most part an entertaining film at the very least. It's not perfect, but it shouldn't have been so shunned.

Hanna: (B-)