Hanna

Now this form of review is somewhat new to this site in which I give a personal opinion of a recent viewing of a recent film. Considering the state of the Hollywood machine at present that means there will likely be less praise than seen in my Genre Gems series. So right of the bat I would like to make a particular point: Saoirse Ronan is a fantastic young actress. This is a name to keep an eye on in the future and a look back at some of her other work isn’t unwarranted either. This however is pretty much where my songs of success for this film hit a brick wall. For every good idea, good scene or clever concept brought to the table it is immediately overwhelmed and strangled before being able to achieve its potential.

The film centers on Hanna (Ronan) who is the daughter of a former CIA man Erik (Eric Bana) who has for mostly undefined reasons decided to raise his daughter to be the perfect assassin isolated in the forests of Finland. She then is given the objective for which she was trained her whole life, the murder of the woman from both she and her father have hidden all her life and as such is introduced to a world she has never before known. This ladies and gentlemen is a very, very good basis for a movie. In the hands of someone like Luc Besson it could probably have played out as a youthful empowerment fantasy as portrayed by tiny female Jason Bourne. To be honest Besson is the name that first came to mind as the plot unfolded as it seemed at least in story to be something of a spiritual evolution of Leon. A young girl raised by a trained professional killer in his ways to craft the ultimate and unsuspected weapon, only here from birth rather than middle school. And thats where this could have gotten so very good, by allowing Saoirse to take her surprisingly convincing bad ass moments and carry them as the major action focus this film could have achieved both its biggest appeal and that delightful money making twinge of controversy.

As hinted however, that film has yet to be made. What we are left with however is a clever thriller concept shoehorned into a pretentious art house drama. With such a potential laden premise a film must be sure to back it up with a firm foundation of cold hard intelligence and reason. This film however must have decided that such things must be cast aside to make room for the almost staggeringly pretentious cinematography and hammy attempts to frame the narrative in the style of Germanic folklore. Other than Saoirse none of the cast seems believable or interesting, with the possible exception of Tom Hollander who if nothing else makes for a fairly creepy perverted German hit man with a taste for whistling. Bana though a good actor is never given enough to work with to make any kind of impression and Cate Blanchett as the big baddy is really just down right painful to watch. And then there is the family.

This has got to be one of the most aggravating sub plots I have encountered on the big screen in years. Hanna while on her travels is temporarily adopted by a travelling English family while she tries to meet her father in Berlin. Not only do they choose to seriously under utilize the talents of Jason Flemyng, who is much too good for the small role they gave him, but also make the daughter the most annoying piss ant since little Anakin Skywalker. It’s strange because at one point in the film she achieves a level of honesty and emotion so as to be likable, but before you know it she is right back to spouting some of the most inane and insistent drivel you ever heard in your life. The little brother could have been cut entirely for the amount of use he is and the mother seems to be directly related to the director from the air of arrogant artiness she applies to her dialogue. This family serves no purpose but to annoy the audience and grind the little plot there is to a complete halt while we wait and pray for Hanna to snap and use some of that deer killing skill from the trailer. But no, they serve no point and are even dropped as a topic entirely and never mentioned again around the one hour mark. In some small way their implied blood on the hands of Blanchett go a ways to forgiving her performance, as well as her choice of accent.

Strangely for a film with a premise that lends itself to so many possible creative action scenes, the film seems to have forgotten to put most of them in. Most scenes are merely exercises in awkward camera angles and trying really hard to convince us that the Chemical Brothers can make even half a good a score as Daft Punk. The little action we do see is usually fairly dull, lacking the strange fantastical feel they try so desperately to force on the rest of the film. With both Ronan and Bana very capable of bringing some true kick when needed, its a shame that the style of the film allows for almost none of the impressiveness both these actors can carry in a fight. I realize that not every film requires action to push narrative or violence to be powerful, but when your films entire point is a talented young actress playing an assassin raised from birth to kill a top ranking member of the CIA, yes oddly I do expect to have entertaining violence.

This is where the film fails for me most entirely, the strange hybrid creation of an all out thriller premise as heavy handedly forced into the role of a dramatic character piece. Lacking both the subtlety to carry out the latter and the passion to be the former the film merely exists lacking either reason to follow its narrative course and yet great reason to be infuriated by the shear lack of closure or caring provided by the ending. The same cast and style as applied to a piece of Germanic drama may well have been fairly well received by certain circles, much like the same premise as envisioned by a director catering to the masses and respecting the need for entertainment would make for a great summer sitting. This film as it is simply falls flat and stays there.