Hanna/2011 (Quite good!)

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HANNA (2011)

For something so simple, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a government test subject, whose DNA has been tampered with in hopes of creating the perfect soldier. (Yes, I know this type of story has been done to death, but hear me out.) She was raised by Erik (Eric Bana), an agent of the previously mentioned government, who suddenly grew a conscience and decided he couldn’t commit such morally base acts against mankind anymore (again, this is an overused topic, but let me finish!) When Hanna’s mother is assassinated, Erik escapes with Hanna and raises her in the wild. Using her specialized DNA to his advantage, he raises Hanna to be a solider with all the predatory instincts of an assassin, meant to kill Marissa (Cate Blanchett), an integral member of the establishment he once worked for.

With that said, I know that some of you will automatically assume that the film is an overdone, moist load of what makes the grass grow green. But I beg to differ...

Director Joe Wright has given us quite a treat with this simple little film of his. Although I wouldn’t say that Hanna is anything overly artistic that you’ll be blown away by, if nothing else, it’s still well shot (there is some absolutely BEAUTIFUL cinematography, especially in the beginning), well acted, and well paced. Though it is, technically, an ‘action’ film, there’s only as much action as there needs to be, and you’re not bombarded with an excess of fighting to compensate for weak storytelling, as one is with most Hollywood films. And even though the film is, as mentioned, cliché, the creators were still able to take an old idea and make it into something fun! They took stale bread and made bread pudding! In other words, for what it is, Hanna is wonderfully done. If you have an hour and fifty minutes to spare, you really can’t go wrong with this film.

(c) Marque Terrynamahr Strickland/2011