Hanna Review: The Dangers of Home Schooling
April 10, 2011 by Josh Hatala
Filed under feature overlay, Movies
If you’ve seen the trailer for Hanna, you honestly have a pretty good idea of what you’re in for. Recluse father and daughter in the woods? Check. Cate Blanchett with a strange accent and power suit? Check. Little blonde girl on a somewhat homicidal rampage? Check. The bad news is there’s little surprise left after that.
From director Joe Wright (Pride&Prejudice, Atonement), Hanna is the story of a 16-year-old girl of the same name (Saoirse Ronan), who is a product of a genetic experimentation by shadowy government figure Marissa (Cate Blanchett). Hanna’s raised in the woods, away from all of modern society, by her father Erik (Eric Bana), training for the eventual day she’ll have to confront her maker.
One morning, father and daughter decide they’re ready, and Marissa’s operatives come for them. Separated and on the run, they head for a planned reunion rendezvous in Berlin. Erik, an operative who went rogue, tries to avoid capture by his former agency while Hanna races to meet her father while attempting to adapt to this new world on her way.
Hanna has some surprising moments of humor, particularly when the young girl attaches herself to a family on a vacation trek across Europe. She befriends the tween daughter of the clan, who has some of the best dialogue in the film, introducing Hanna to fashion and dating. The script doesn’t spend enough time with the father character Erik, or his former relationship/association with Blanchett’s would-be villainess. Periphery goons appear out of nowhere to aid her, with no rationale for their willing
involvement. Ronan proves a capable actress and is given the most material to work with of the leads. Little overall resolution will likely leave some viewers scratching their heads, debating what they’ve just witnessed.
A great premise, Hanna ultimately falls somewhat short. It’s not a movie I regret spending two hours with, but it’s probably not one I’ll ever seek out again. At times it plays like a jumble of intriguing situations and thought out sequences rather than a fully coherent exploration of any one, let alone group of, character(s) or storyline.
Images courtesy of Alex Bailey and Focus Features
I actually quite enjoyed Hanna. Sure it won’t win any oscars, but as a lover of action thrillers such as this, it ticked all the right boxes.
Sounds track was great too from the Chemical Brothers…although I agree with you in the fact that the German goon henchmen were completley unneccessary.
Here’s my review – what do you think?
http://flic-key.blogspot.com/2011/05/hanna-kicks-ass-repeatedly.html
Thanks for the review! I didn’t know if I wanted to see this or not, but your review made me decide it wasn’t worth going out of my way to see. Thanks for saving me money
Our sentiments exactamundo. We don’t want to say it sucked but we can only think of three things that worked: Ronan’s performance; the visuals: intriguing and at times riveting; and thencaravan tween — fab. That sequence if interactions was lovely, intimate, fun.
The rest? What was Cate thinking!!