HANNA: fog's review with trailer
July 22nd 2011 19:13
Saoirse Ronan as Hanna
Visually, it starts beautifully; countryside covered in snow, white swans on a pond, a large elk, and the young face of a fur wrapped girl, who holds aim with bow and arrow.
The inevitable happens, the poor hapless animal is felled, she approaches quickly, looking down at its last suffering moments, she is sorry she just missed its heart, a quick death missed. Suddenly she pumps a couple of bullets into its head from a Luger pistol.
We then see her approached; a man also in fur skins, he then tries to kill her, and she tries to kill him.
HANNA : BANDE-ANNONCE VOST HD by baryla
She ends up thrown onto the ground; he tells her she can drag the beast back to the house. They are father and daughter, living in a snowbound picturesque wonderland, they are living off the land, no electricity, no gas, no outside contact and only an encyclopaedia and a children’s fairytale book to read.
Hanna is being trained to survive; to kill, but not just beasts, humans too.
Her maturity is drawing nearer, she is impatient, she wants her release into the real world, the world from which some years earlier, when she was little, her father withdrew her from.
The relationship between father and daughter becomes strained then finally, he decides, after Hanna beats him in a surprise attack, that she is ready, but he warns her, there will be no turning back, and contact will begin a series of events that will propel her further into the haywire world of the 21st century, and there will be mortal danger.
Hanna is not worried, she is ready, apparently.
The father then uncovers the switch; a battery operated device buried in the snow covered grounds, it is a signal, and a homing device, it will bring the outside world to her, with a bang.
Bana as Erik
She agrees to meet him at a rendezvous, prearranged long ago and memorised, time and again. He leaves and she waits...a helicopter, many men with guns, Hanna is found and spirited away to a secure underground facility far from her home.
And so begins the thriller ride of the film Hanna, (with a couple of scenes unrevealed here, as this is one of those films you cannot spoil by revealing too much).
It is a thriller, and takes an interesting track, quite unique in fact, as the drama unfolds initially peacefully, then quickly picks up pace. What saves this film, for the most part, is the consummate skill of the main characters, with some quirky and amusing interludes with bit players along the way, and how the writer and director avoid the usual clichés of spy films of old.
I liked this film, but one thing stopped me from loving it, the sound track.
The sound level in the preview I attended was overbearingly loud, so loud my musician friend, who has been subjected to loudspeakers up close for 30 years, remarked about how loud it was, as I did. It was ear drum breaking loud, so loud, that it took you completely out of the film, leaving you fuming in your seat, till it died down again.
Hanna in belly of the beast
Mercifully, the loud musical interludes were during the chase scenes, regrettably, there were so many chase scenes that it was totally disruptive to one’s relationship with the film.
This was the fault of the director, Joe Wright and I suspect the influence of The Chemical Brothers, whose music blasts and rumbles throughout the film, but, if they are not at fault, it has to be the fault of some idiot in the projection box. Either way, it was inexcusable, as it harmed the film almost to the point of eliminating any positive feelings I had for it.
Blanchett blasting away
However, as I stated, the powerful performances by Kate Blanchette, as the hardnosed psychopathic secret agent manager Marissa, Eric Bana as Erik Hanna’s father and Saoirse Ronan as Hanna, are well crafted by these tremendous artisans.
This film is a blunt force hardnosed slap into the world of spies, violence and secret research; no matter what the age, or sex, of the victim, all is fair game for the dreaded nasties tracking down Erik and Hanna.
There are a number of moments which jarred credulity, which broke ones union with the spirit of the film, but these moments were the director’s fault. If you are going to portray super realism, even if someone has exceptional abilities, you must still stay within the logical world of physics, or you risk losing the audience. I also had reservations about the penultimate scene and the ending.
Worth a look, but bring your ear plugs, just in case!
Image Credits and Permissions:
All images copyright presumed that of Production Company and/or Distributor and publisher, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Images used here to identify product for critical review, low res. copies, not meant for redistribution.
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