Welcome to another episode Lights....Camera....Popcorn!
Today's review is Hanna Directed by Joe Wright. Written by Seth Lockhead & David Farr. Screen story by Seth Lockhead.
Review #114
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language.
Runtime: 111 min
Cast
Saoirse Ronan - Hanna
Eric Bana - Erik
Cate Blanchett - Marissa
Tom Hollander - Isaacs
Olivia Williams - Rachel
Jason Flemyng - Sebastian
In the crazy world of action films, there seems to be a perverse obsession to cast kids as adult themed characters. The ploy can and has worked but you have to be very careful not to disassociate your audience with the child. Hanna is able to avoid this problem.
It couldn't however, avoid all it's other problems.
Hanna is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father, an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own. As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.
To be fair, the film starts off very well and sets up what you're supposed to feel towards Hanna and her enemies. This is displayed nicely by Ronan's performance. Her milky white skin and piercing blue eyes make you feel for her and fear her at the same time. She carries the weight of being a child in this world with no equal. Disconnected from the everyday public. Equipped with skills that the highest military personnel spend decades of their lives acquiring mixed with just the right amount of emotion and heart to still believe she's human when clearly she wasn't meant to appear as one.
Sadly, this is the only and I mean the only good thing about this movie. The rest of it is just a jumbled, disjointed MESS. The story at it's core is solid enough to move you along. Then for some inexplicable reason it loses itself between acts 2 and 3. The plot twist is predictable and mildly laughable. There's no reason to care about what happens to anyone else affected in this film besides Hanna. The family she stows away with just comes out of nowhere and adds nothing to the narrative only to serve as a ride for Hanna.
The villains are cardboard cutouts of better played rogue government agents. This includes the great Cate Blanchett. If there's a plus to her performance is that she does inspire your hatred toward her. She truly is a bitch on wheels in this one. That however, doesn't help her character out because that's her job all along.
Everyone else is just bad, bad, BAD!
The fight sequences though well choreographed by the great and underrated tinseltown veteran Jeff Imada were poorly framed and once again crafted in the avid. It never ceases to amaze me how big budget cinema continues to reject Hong Kong's tried and true method of showcasing a martial arts sequence. Hollywood like the NFL is a copycat league with almost everything except displaying a fight sequence choc full of martial arts madness. These scenes deserve your attention but instead we get the ADD treatment.
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!
On the 5 star scale. Hanna gets 1.5 stars with a "Netflix It" recommendation.
The potential for a really good film was here. Too bad it was only in the first 30 min.
That's a wrap for today. Up next is Your Highness.
Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"
"D"
