Review of Hanna (2011) by Lihui C — 26 Sep 2012

BAD ASS!!! Ronan is worth watching!

I'd always admired Saoirse Ronan, I've been a fan of hers when she starred Atonement and thought she played perfectly in The Lovely Bones. In Hanna, she surprised me with her ability to play the innocent while gazing (her ghostly blue eyes) in a pool of dead bodies. Its almost a chilling thing to see, a step lower to those female center action roles like Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman, etc. Saoirse Ronan gets all the credit: she can tackle, fight, punch, throw kicks and can aim an arrow right near the heart (besides that, "shoot 'em"). She does conjure up emotional depth and tear up in some scenes, in this film her facial expression shows signs of loneliness and confusion. The other actors are also top notch in their performances. Cate Blanchett is a good villain especially with her quiet accent (I believe) dang she was pretty insane. Eric Bana plays the cool dad, still throws punches and kicks.

The Story is action-packed as ever but it really isn't as fun as Mission Impossible or Bourne Ultimatum, its like Salt. Its a bit more realistic considering they don't jump off a 10 story parking lot and still be able to survive even with a car (that's right, I'm pointing at you Tom Cruise). This movie does linger on important themes such as the ability to be dependent and independent at times, growing up. Other than that, its a unique, mature take on a fairytale (?) and its extremely fast-pounding. The pace is pretty much like The Chemical Brothers' Score. The Score is potent, I downloaded some of their tracks. Throughout the movie, you can hear "The Devil is in Details" whistle. Innocent but disturbing.

Falls.

You lose the attention maybe mid-way but then it energizes itself shortly after they (spoiler alert) capture Hanna's friends.

Overall, it isn't a perfect film but its hell-a-good and will please action-suspense junkies. The movie shines and deserves credit because of the actors especially Saoirse Ronan. You almost want to shout, "Why didn't you kick Mr. Harvey's Ass!!?".

75%.