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Title: Hanna (2011)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Saoirse Ronan | ... | Hanna | |
| Eric Bana | ... | Erik Heller | |
| Vicky Krieps | ... | Johanna Zadek (as Vicky Kreips) | |
| Cate Blanchett | ... | Marissa Wiegler | |
| Paris Arrowsmith | ... | CIA Tech #1 | |
| John Macmillan | ... | Lewis | |
| Tim Beckmann | ... | Walt | |
| Paul Birchard | ... | Bob | |
 |
Christian Malcolm | ... | Head of Ops |
| Jamie Beamish | ... | Burton | |
|
|
Tom Hodgkins | ... | Monitor |
|
|
Vincent Montuel | ... | Camp G Doctor #1 |
| Nathan Nolan | ... | Camp G Doctor #2 | |
| Michelle Dockery | ... | False Marissa | |
| Jessica Barden | ... | Sophie | |
See how director Joe Wright uses his signature tracking shots to set up a visual narrative for his films, including Atonement, The Soloist, and Hanna.
Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the skills of a soldier. These come from being raised by her father, Erik Heller (Eric Bana), an ex-C.I.A. man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, 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 ruthless intelligence operative, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), who has secrets of her own. As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity. Written by Focus Features
Let's get the obvious out of the way, shall we? The plot is derivative of so many other things it's not true, with Nikita being the obvious reference point. The acting isn't particularly strong, the script is barely adequate and the plot is neither internally coherent nor believable. In other words it's like every other action film ever made from Bond to Bourne and all points between. So what was everyone expecting who went to see this movie? Shakespeare?
On the other hand I would rate this as one of those rare experiences of seeing pure film. That is to say that there is the perfect marriage between image and music that makes it something quite different to the normal. The composition and direction of this film are really quite extraordinary with scene after scene catching the eye and making the commonplace clichés of the action genre seem fresh. The choice of music is inspired and the way that is has been synced to the action serves to heighten the tension in the scenes.
The film also manages to avoid the usual problem of over-reliance on CGI with the effects that are used being spare and for a reason. At one point we have a chase and fight in a container port and I was expecting the worst. Where did this scenario come from? I suspect it was one of the early Dirty Harry films and the container port shootout/chase has since become a compulsory element in all bad action movies and features in multiple episodes of TV thrillers. In 99 times out of 100 it's lazy, it's boring and it's the same as every other one you've seen. Well Joe Wright has done the seemingly impossible by making his container port scene exciting and different.
Look, you're not going to learn the meaning of life or even the meaning of the plot by watching this movie. If you enjoy cinema however, and by that I mean the use of images, light and music to propel the story then I think you'll like this.