B+ Flashy fight scenes and cinematography but very little substance
“Hanna” opens with a shot of a snowy landscape — cold, distant and elegant, much like the movie itself. A stylized kiddy version of “The Bourne Identity,” “Hanna” does an excellent job of showcasing balletic fight scenes and starkly contrasting cinematography, but fails to draw the audience’s sympathy to the protagonist’s struggles.
Hanna, played by the wraithlike Saoirse Ronan, is a child assassin raised by her ex-CIA agent father (Eric Bana) in the Arctic wilderness to survive against all odds. She has never before known the outside world, until one day she tells her father she is ready to face it. A mysterious switch is triggered, and the chase begins.
Hanna is hunted down by the steely CIA agent Marissa Wiegler, played by the talented Cate Blanchett. As Hanna flees from her pursuers, the mysterious story slowly unfolds, but not in a way to capture the viewers’ attention. Coupled with the ambiguously motivated lead characters of who you’re not sure is the good guy and the bad guy, it’s hard to attach yourself to the struggles of a singular character. Both Hanna and her opponent Marissa Wiegler are cold killers who garner little sympathy.
This isn’t the fault of the actors. Saoirse Ronan is wonderfully cast as Hanna, with her ghost-like appearance and piercing blue eyes. However, she retains a sort of blank-faced look throughout the film, which fits the character’s personality, but makes it hard to identify with her. Eric Bana seems to only be there to provide some fan service with a few shirtless scenes, and Cate Blanchett is stuck with a rather one-dimensional character as the cold and heartless Marissa Wiegler.
Some of the supporting cast provides most of the color. Jessica Bardem provides some comic relief as Sophie, a vain and quirky British girl on vacation with her family who Hanna meets and befriends. Sophie is a refreshing breath of realism among all the tense characters and is frankly the most interesting person in the film, despite being surrounded by assassins and mercenaries.
Tom Hollander plays a super creepy mercenary hired by Marissa Wiegler who really likes torturing people and beating them with steel pipes. His jolly whistle as he stalks his prey is the creepiest thing of all.
The film’s cinematography is what stands out the most. Hyper-stylized and extremely modern, director Joe Wright makes great use of stark colors to contrast each other and experiments with lighting and fast cuts. Many of the chase scenes feel like a music video, with dizzying camera shots and flashing light shows. At first this is intriguing to watch but starts to feel too contrived. Wright sacrifices realistic action sequences for gracefully choreographed fights, many of which are surprisingly bloodless and often end in a visually appealing shot of a symbolically placed body.
The soundtrack, which was composed by The Chemical Brothers, is extremely techno and has beats that suggest a high-end dance club rather than an action film. It adds to the music video-feel of the film and supports its “modern” mantra.
“Hanna” is a stylish take on a tired action genre, but it’s no “Bourne Identity.” It may have a morally ambiguous protagonist who doesn’t really know who she is, but the similarities stop there. “Hanna” may look good, but it suffers from poor characterization and mediocre acting that not even a talented cast can save.
hbui@theeagleonline.com
