Saorise Ronan jumping off a crate in Hanna
Hanna
A-
A Review by Frederick Cholowski
Action movies can be a very touchy subject. There are the ones that are amazing and fantastic such as Fight Club or Die Hard. Then there can be films like Transformers 3. So what happens when Joe Wright the director of such films as The Pride and the Prejudice and Atonement tries to make an action film? You get Hanna a really good action film that cares just as much about characters and plot as it does about blowing things up.
Hanna starts out in the middle of a secluded snowy forest where Hanna (Saorise Ronan) and her father Erik (Eric Bana) are living and training. After training montages and emotional moments we find that Hanna is ready for her ultimate mission which is to take down CIA agent Marissa (Cate Blanchett). Then a game of cat and mouse in sues all across Europe.
Hanna has a super solid edge of your seat plot that really has you going from the start. It’s fast paced and constantly moving. Evan so the film never seems to forget what’s important and while fast pace has a lot of great story elements to it as well. I have two main complaints though. When the film reaches its end it goes a little too over the top for me and while both Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett are brilliant they have very, very unfortunate accents that can take you out of the film sometimes.
Speaking of performances they are great across the board. Saorise Ronan is turning out to be a phenomenal young actress. She really shines here by adding some real emotional depth to the young killing machine Hanna. Overall Cate Blanchett is just plain fun to watch. She really goes over the top here and makes her role as the cold dark CIA agent one of the high points of the film. There is a solid supporting cast here to who add depth overall to the motion picture.
Hanna is also a showcase of style. This film is just plain gorgeous through and through. The action scenes instead of relying on quick cuts and gimmicks use long and lingering shots. My favorite action scene in the film is actually just one big tracking shot with no cuts at all. There is also a fantastic electronic soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers that sucks you right into the film right away.
Hanna is a very good action movie. It mixes good performances with a pace that keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole time. It also has a wonderful sense of style and grace that truly set it apart from other films in the genre. For a man who made two really methodical dramas Joe Wright can sure make a good action-thriller.
