Yeah... saw this one, like, a month ago. SLACKER! Gotta write it up all quick-like so I can move on to my Scream 4 review. Eventually. So...
Hanna: Whoa. What a cool movie this was. I saw the trailers and figured it would be alright, but I was pleasantly surprised when it was much better than just "OK".
Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a girl born of a secret government project intent on creating the perfect assassin. She is raised by her father, Erik Heller (Eric Bana) in the snowy wilderness (Finland, I think) to be a completely self-sufficient survivor. Basically, he raises her as the assassin she was meant to be. When she turns 16 he gives her the choice to be "found" by the government in order to kill Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), the corrupt agent responsible for her mother's death. Hanna agrees, turns on the locator device her father has left out for her, is found, murders a "fake" Marissa Wiegler, escapes custody, and is chased through Morocco, then Germany by a hired mercenary named Isaacs (Tom Hollander) on her trek to reunite with her father.
What makes this movie great is the its take on the fish-out-of-water aspects of Hanna's journey. Having grown up in utter seclusion with her father being the only human she's seen since she was an infant, and having seemingly completed her mission right away, we basically get to follow Hanna on the lam, experiencing the world for the first time. She befriends a travelling family who decide to help her get to her dad in Germany, and for the first time learns what "normal" family life can be like, and what it means to have friends. It's fun, cute, exciting, but all the while dangerous, as we know she's being hunted by a ruthless, whistling mercenary and his cronies. What's great, though, is as "gee-whiz" as Hanna's experiences are, we never forget the calm, calculated killer she is if pushed to defend herself. And, of course, the people she meets have no idea what this fair, blonde, wisp of a girl is capable of.
The action is pretty great. Hanna's escape from the CIA compound is pretty exciting, the fight scenes are both brutal and elegant, and the general pacing of the movie is a nonstop mashup of chase flick and road movie. And they don't skimp on the latter, either- it's a movie that loves its location shoots. Everything's so outdoorsy. Makes me wish I was still out west doing the hiking thing. But I digress...
The acting is top notch. Saoirse Ronan knocks her role out of the park, Eric Bana is always great- no exception here, Cate Blanchett is great... with one exception. I won't get too into it here, but I have a real problem with that "give the non-American English-speaker a southern USA accent because it's the easiest to fake" thing. Ms. Blanchett is a goddess, but seriously, that shit rarely flies. Just picking nits here, though. You can decide for yourself how much it bugs you. Oh, and that Tom Hollander guy was great. So creepy and awkward. What's the term the kids are using these days? "Douche-chills"? Yeah- he gave me those.
Anyway, great movie. A little over-the-top at times, but that can be seen as part of the dark fairy-tale world (almost literally and for sure a little heavy-handed in the third act) that this socially underdeveloped teenaged murder machine has been thrust into. Go see it if you haven't already. I think you'll dig it.
8 out of 10 Tracksuit-Wearing Psychos
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