Review of Hanna

Directed by: Joe Wright
Written By: Seth Lochhead & David Farr
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana

A TCC RATING OF

Here's the short review: It's awesome. Here's the not-so-short review: It's really awesome. I'm a bit of a fan of the action film, and there have been a lamentable lack of them lately with the kind of writing and art film styling present here in Hanna. For those of you who haven't seen any of the trailers or who have generally been living under a rock, Hanna is the story of a young assassin given the choice to enact revenge on an intelligence agent by her father, played brilliantly by Eric Bana. "She won't stop until you're dead," Bana says, referring to Cate Blanchett's character, "or she is."

Stylistically Hanna borrows from the best of the genre, juggling its references perfectly without doing the story itself a disservice. Most notable is the escape scene in the beginning of the film, a direct homage to Run Lola Run. Hanna evokes Franka Potente flawlessly as she escapes the guards, with the camera spinning around again and again to the soundtrack's crescendo.

The Chemical Brothers pull off for Hanna what Daft Punk and Trent Reznor did for their respective films. The soundtrack here is tight, coming in at just the right time and with the appropriate intensity. They seem to know when to back away as well, since there are decent-sized chunks of time in the film where there's simply no music at all. It's this balance that gives each moment with a soundtrack such weight. And I daresay anyone who sees this movie won't be able to get the music out of their head for quite some time (says the writer on his fifth listen through the soundtrack today).

Saoirse Ronan--playing the titular role--has been in other films before this, but this is where she shines. Her Hanna dances a fine line between efficient, cold-blooded killer and vulnerable sixteen year old. Whether confessing friendship under the covers to a new-found friend or smashing a punker's head into a shipping crate, Ronan makes it all look extremely easy. Last time I think I was this floored by a performance was with Chloe Moretz's Hit Girl. It will be interesting to see how Ronan's career evolves from here.

And let's not forget Cate Blanchett, who gives a kick-ass performance as intelligence agent Marissa. I never really thought that anyone could give such an over-the-top performance without turning it cheesy or one-dimensional. Blanchett does it with relative ease and manages to bring a tragedy to the character that in the hands of another might not have existed. They say that a hero is only as good as his or her villain, and in this case Blanchett keeps everyone on their toes. I suppose a slight shout out to to Tom Hollander is also in order, since he manages to turn the bumbling lackey into a fearsome character.

Seriously, if you have some free time get your ass down to the cinema and check out Hanna. It's a great action film with an art film veneer and it's perhaps the best film out so far this year. Well, it's most certainly my favorite film out this year. The rest kind of pale in comparison.

Here's the trailer once more, in case you need more nudging to go see it!