‘Hanna’: a modern (and violent) fairytale
James Klentzman
Contributing Writer
“Hanna” is an interesting movie to say the least. It wasn’t exactly what the trailers claimed it to be, but retaining some old and expected plot developments makes it seem familiar.
In director Joe Wright’s (“The Soloist,” “Atonement”) latest movie, Eric Bana is a former CIA agent who is training his teenage daughter Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) to assassinate another agent (Cate Blanchett) responsible for her mother’s murder. The movie follows the three in a cat-and-mouse revenge thriller that, surprisingly, is sparse on actual action.
The movie is more about Hanna’s exploration into the world, something with which she is extremely unfamiliar. Being taught all her life about the black-and-white ethics of murder and survival, Hanna is unprepared for the nuances of the real world. She’s Jason Bourne without any social skills.
Wright managed to keep the suspense and action in the typical revenge thriller while injecting some special twists to the movie. For one, the film’s score, composed by The Chemical Brothers, added an extra eeriness and fantasy elements to the films, as if Hanna was a modern-day “Alice in Wonderland.”
The movie does make multiple attempts to portray that connection between Hanna and fairytales. Her favorite book is a copy of “Grimm’s Fairytales,” and there are multiple references throughout Hanna’s journeys, from Little Red Riding Hood to the Sandman. There’s a sort of mystical element to her, one that isn’t explained, but slowly revealed throughout the movie.
Ronan performs well as a lead character, especially one that is as unorthodox as Hanna. Bana is of course a talented actor (one only has to see “Troy” and “Munich” to know that), but at times it seems like he’s just phoning it in.
The two main antagonists of the film, Blanchett and Tom Hollander (who plays a creepy mercenary assigned to track Hanna) steal the show. Blanchett is a perfect villain, able to seamlessly transition from reassuring but manipulative to terrifying and amoral. Hollander is perfect as a creepy, sociopathic killer. In every scene he’s in, especially if he’s close to hunting Hanna down, he whistles lullabies, and it just ups the creepiness to no end.
“Hanna” is nothing special though. There is nothing in the movie that is truly unique and makes it stand out. The movie also suffers with a lack of restraint. There isn’t anything that isn’t telegraphed to the audience beforehand, making the “thriller” part of the thriller movie kind of bland. Any surprises that could throw viewers for a loop are completely lost because the movie doesn’t make any attempt to hide them. Audiences will know halfway through the movie where Hanna comes from, and audiences will know a quarter of the way through why Bana wants Blanchett dead. Everyone in the movie plainly states their motives.
The movie is far from perfect, but in this time of the year, where all the film studios are holding back on their Oscar-bait movies until the end of summer, “Hanna” is one of the better movies to see. Just make sure to watch this instead of “Hop.” “Hop” was horrific.
Grade: C+
