Hanna

Watching Hanna, it's hard not to think of last year's cult action-comedy, Kick-Ass. Both films deal with young girls who have been trained by their fathers to be perfect killing machines, studying every weapon and martial art known. But whereas the earlier film took a more over the top approach, having father and daughter dressing up like superheroes to murder criminals, Hanna goes for a somewhat more low key approach at first, only to go more over the top as it goes along.

The titular Hanna (played by the wonderful Saorise Ronan) lives in a cabin in the middle of the woods with her father Erik (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA operative who is on the run from a past that seems to constantly be in danger of catching up with him. He's ready for whenever that happens, though. He's been training his daughter in fighting, hunting, mastering multiple languages, and knowledge of the world, even though the girl has never really seen the world outside the cabin and surrounding woods. She can explain how electricity works, but has never actually seen it. She understands what music is, but has never heard it. Hanna is getting to the age where she's asking questions about the outside world. Erik insists they have everything they need. They fight and train every morning, and little by little, Erik notices that Hanna is getting stronger. He gives her the option to go out onto the world literally with the flick of a switch with a homing device that will lead the people who are after Erik directly to them.

The motivations leading up to this decision, and the decision for Hanna to flick the switch, are a little murky at best, but director Joe Wright (The Soloist) is mainly here to give us a kinetic thrill ride. When the action hits (which is shortly after Hanna flips the switch on the device), he certainly succeeds. The person who has been hunting Erik all this time, an icy operative named Marissa (Cate Blanchett), sends a small army to the cabin. Erik is long gone by this time, but Hanna stays behind, as she wants to be captured, and meet the person who has been hunting her father all this time. They take the child to an underground facility in Morocco, where Hanna asks to see Marissa in person. Marissa, being suspicious, sends a double to talk to the girl - Smart move, since Hanna promptly snaps the double's neck, and escapes from the facility, thinking she has killed her father's tormentor. Now she must track down her father once again, all the while dodging the agents that Marissa sends after her.

Surprisingly, this is where the action slows down, and also where Hanna falters a little in its narrative. A good section of the film deals with Hanna meeting a British family on vacation, befriending their teenage daughter (Jessica Barden). Hanging around with the family makes Hanna realize everything she has missed out on by not having a real family, or a normal life. This is supposed to be the heart of the film, and while this section earns some laughs, I found myself growing a little restless, as the characters aren't developed as strongly as I would have liked. The movie keeps on cutting back and forth between Hanna bonding with the family, and Marissa obsessively pursuing her and her father, but it never quite builds like it should. This is not the fault of the actors, all of whom are wonderful, nor is this the result of bad filmmaking. It's simply that the script does not dig deep enough.

I was also disappointed that the movie does not follow up on one of its most powerful scenes. There's a wonderful sequence early on where Hanna, shortly after escaping from the facility, checks herself into a room, and literally becomes overwhelmed by the technology around her, to the point that she does not know how to react to the television, or even the electric tea kettle. The movie actually creates a sense of confusion, as Hanna is literally surrounded by this technology that she's never experienced before, having been isolated in the woods all her life. This is a wonderful scene, full of tension and fear, and gave me the impression the movie was going to go for a serious approach to Hanna discovering the outside world. Unfortunately, further scenes go for somewhat of a more comical approach, such as Hanna throwing and disarming a guy who tries to kiss her, then apologizing when she realizes what he was trying to do.

I don't want to give the impression that Hanna disappointed me greatly or anything. It's simply a B-Movie with A-Movie production values and performances. The quality of the film itself sets us up for great things, and the storytelling just doesn't do it justice. That's not to say the film's not entertaining. There are some great action sequences (all done with real stunts, and no glaringly obvious CG work, if any at all), and some stand-out individual moments, though not enough to make this a truly memorable film. Though enjoyable, Hanna kind of disappeared like vapor from my mind shortly after walking out of the theater. Judging by the cast and the talent involved, I expected this to be more memorable.

But, I had fun for the most part while watching it, so I guess that's enough. Director Joe Wright has an obvious talent for the action genre, even if he doesn't hit a home run here. I'd like to see him try again. The movie itself comes close to being a home run at times, but will just have to settle with being a modest success.

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