Movie Review: Hanna

Hanna


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

Story: A man trains his daughter from birth to be an assassin.

Review: Joe Wright's previous films were The Soloist, Atonement, and Pride and Prejudice. Not exactly the pedigree for an action film. Hanna is very stylish, but the action scenes, like many movies today, are reliant on quick cuts and closeups. There are quite a few chase sequences that I was completely lost in. How did she get from there to there? How is he ahead of her now, and not behind her? Watch Die Hard and you know the layout of the entire building, but in Hanna you don't know where anything is. You just sit there and assume the bad guy will catch up and confront her. Another problem I had was how one dimensional Cate Blanchett's character was. Blanchett was great, but with a little more fleshing out of her character it could have been special. The small moments she has are more impressive than the usual summer action movie. Oh, and Eric Bana kicks ass.

Comparable Movies: Pretty easy one. The Professional mixed with some Bourne Identity.

Rating: *** 1/2 out of 5

A superior cast for this type of movie. Action scenes could have been better, but not bad. I guess you take the good (good cast because of an artistic director), with the bad (no experience with big action sequences.)

May the Force be with you,
CHUD