Story by Seth Lochhead
Screenplay Written by Seth Lochhead and David Farr
Directed by Joe Wright
**** (four stars)
Last year, I named Director Matthew Vaughn's hyper-violent comic book satire “Kick-Ass” as my least favorite film of the year. I certainly have no need to re-hash old wounds and cinematic slights but for the purpose of this review, I felt it necessary to bring up. You see, dear readers, among the many things I hated abut that movie, none was more serious to me than the character and depiction of the pre-pubescent psychopath Hit Girl, which to me felt to be nothing more than a gimmick and at its worst, an exercise in exploitation. Now, all that being said, I have to say that I do not have any problem with the idea of a young female psychopath as a rule. In regards to the art of cinematic storytelling, I believe that one could potentially make a film about nearly anything. But, it all comes down to the actual presentation.
In enormous contrast to “Kick-Ass,” “Hanna,” the new film from Director Joe Wright is a spectacular experience! It is a kinetic, hallucinogenic thriller that shows how the concept of a young female psychopath, trained to be an assassin by her Father, can work properly. It is the film not only “Kick-Ass” wished it could have been but it completely takes recent ho-hum, by the numbers action fare like Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable” and Phillip Noyce’s “Salt” and mops the floor with them both. The film, including its terrific action sequences, is designed to keep you off balance, upend you and alter your senses through its ferociously inventive cinematography, music score and other cinematic rabbits pulled from Wright’s bottomless hat. And yet, the film is no mindless romp of ultra-violence as the wonderfully compelling Saoirse Ronan, reuniting with Wright after their collaboration in “Atonement” (2007) provides the film and story with its pulse pounding soul. “Hanna” is by turns poetic, brutal, surreal, scary and just one rocket of a film and as this was my first 2011 film release I have seen this year, I am hoping that the high bar set by this movie bodes well for an equally impressive cinematic year.
The plot of “Hanna” is appropriately straightforward. Former CIA Operative Erik Heller (Eric Bana), lives in solitude with our titular heroine (Ronan) deep in the icy forests of Finland and has trained her, throughout her 15 years, to be an assassin. She has never come into contact with any other living soul or modern technology, has memorized a series of invented back stories and regardless of whatever situation she would ever find herself placed, she is feverishly instructed to “adapt or die.” As Hanna grows increasingly curious about the world outside of her frozen abode, and restless to discover the world on her own, Erik instructs her towards a ominous box with a switch and corresponding red light. Once that switch has been tripped, the flame haired and furiously tenacious CIA analyst Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) would immediately be notified to their whereabouts and would begin to relentlessly hunt Erik and Hanna down, for the sole purpose of killing him and capturing her. And as Erik dangerously warns, “she will not stop.”
Deeming herself finally ready, Hanna trips the switch and the violent chase immediately begins. Erik departs for Germany, with the instructions to reunite at a predetermined location in Berlin while Hanna is then apprehended by Marissa’s team and taken to a CIA safe house in Morocco…but not for long. Hanna single-handedly slaughters members of Marissa’s crew, escapes the safe house and races to the Moroccan desert where she is taken in by a family of tourists, including a endlessly chatty teenage girl named Sophie (Jessica Barden).
From this point, Hanna’s survivalist odyssey involves her engagement with the previously unseen sights and sounds of the world, as well as confronting a team of mercenaries led by the fey Isaacs (Tom Hollander), and the deep secrets concerning her Father and her origin. All of these events lead to the inevitable and ultimate showdown between herself and Marissa.
As previously stated, “Hanna” is a electrifying experience that owes its high success to Wright’s endlessly inventive visual storytelling, high energy, excellent action sequences, which all throb along to a propulsive, percussive film score provided by The Chemical Brothers. Unlike most action films released today, that are essentially nothing more than a cacophony of special effects and punishing soundtracks designed to bludgeon an audience rather than to engage, “Hanna” contains a more European sensibility. It also earns many extra points from me by decidedly not conceding to the over-utilization of the dreaded “shaky cam” which therefore allows the story of the fights to be fully regarded in their visceral glory.
Most importantly, Wright understands that for his film to work at its best, it cannot solely function as grand style for the sake of exhibiting grand style and additionally, it needs to be firmly anchored by strong performances. If I may return to the my lukewarm responses to “Unstoppable” and “Salt” for a moment, I had lively conversations with some of you who enjoyed both of those films and even suggested that when it comes to films of that nature, perhaps the acting is not the most important factor. I respectfully disagree with that sentiment. For me, (and with rare exceptions) all of the stunts, explosions, fist fights and gun battles tend not to move me a whit without a story and especially actors of a caliber that will help me buy the fantasy that the filmmakers are attempting to sell. If that were not true, then just have the faceless stunt people play the roles.
Honestly, please try to imagine Steven Spielberg’s 1981 masterpiece “Raiders Of The Lost Ark,” and all of its near out of body action set pieces without the majesty of Harrison Ford to make even the most preposterous situations believable. Or how about Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and the entire cast of John McTiernan’s original “Die Hard” (1988)? If not for them, that film would have been nothing more than brainless bullets of parade and not the modern action film classic that remains a highly influential piece of supreme entertainment. The right actors in the right roles, being the proper conduits for that screenplay and direction, will always elevate the material from mere pyrotechnics and ear crushing sound effects into cinematic gold. In “Hanna,” the right actors were indeed perfectly cast in the right roles.
Eric Bana, struck me as a younger Liam Neeson in his role as the brutally secretive Erik Heller. Like Neeson, Bana possesses a steadfast quality merged with a profound sense of being haunted by unthinkable demons. Yet when it is time to strike into action, he is the true definition of unstoppable as seen in one particular virtuoso fight sequence that pits him against several adversaries and Wright films in a nearly four minute, “Hitchcockian” long take. Outstanding!
As for Saorise Ronan and Cate Blanchett, I need to make this next observation in order to completely remark upon their stellar work.
As an action/spy film, “Hanna” definitely recalls other hyper-stylized thrillers like Luc Besson’s “La Femme Nikita” (1990), Tom Tykwer’s “Run Lola Run” (1998), Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” (2003/2004) and television’s “Alias.” Wright also employs a host of surrealistic touches that he dabbled with in his previous film, the excellent musically themed drama, “The Soloist” (2009), which makes this thriller often recall the dark cinematic visions of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, and especially director Ken Russell, famously (or notoriously) known for his singular wild visions in films like “Tommy” (1975), “Lisztomania” (1975) and “Altered States” (1981).
And even with all of this homage at play, “Hanna” firmly stands on its own two feet as a work with its own original voice because it owes its deliriously dangerous world to the primal and violent structure and storytelling of classic fairy tales. Simply described, “Hanna” is like a Grimm’s fairy tale acid trip. It’s Jason Bourne falling down the rabbit hole.
What is the story of “Hanna” than a fairytale? A young girl raised alone in the woods leaves her idyllic setting to see the world and throughout her journeys, she is confronted with a host of evils designed for her to unearth an inner resolve, emerging more mature, more “grown up” at its conclusion? Hanna is an embodiment of Sleeping Beauty/Alice/Goldilocks and other ingénues while Marissa is a hybrid of The Wicked Queen/The Wicked Witch/The Evil Stepmother and other darkly sexual tormentors. Even Erik is at times, the kindly woodcutter or even The Big Bad Wolf. And beyond the characters and story structure, Wright loads his film with fairy tale iconography, some overt, some quite subtle, which gives the film as a whole an added kick that only serves to enhance rather than distract.
Here is where the work of Cate Blanchett and Saorise Ronan shines brightest. Blanchett, armed with a vague southern accent, hair-trigger temper, explosive firearm skills and sinister green colored high heeled shoes, would be nothing more than a laughable cartoon if she did not fill the character of Marissa with disturbing malice and menace. Her performance reminded me a bit of Diane Ladd’s squeamish turn as the vengeful Mother in Lynch’s “Wild At Heart” (1990), which was itself a nightmarish revision of “The Wizard Of Oz” (1939).
But Ronan is golden with her performance as Hanna, again making her a young actress to watch very seriously. With her far away eyes, that can either suggest a moony detachment or cold blooded programmed fury, I could not think of a better actress to tackle this difficult role, as it has to not only extend beyond potential exploitation but it also has to create sympathy for a character who is a psychopath. Ronan (who also beautifully handled the difficult leading role in Peter Jackson’s controversial 2009 adaptation of “The Lovely Bones”) accomplishes this feat by giving Hanna a true sense of wonderment as she explores the world and endures the up and down cycle of innocence lost, found, and lost again. Hanna exists in a constant state of childlike wonderment, especially as she has her first experiences with hearing music—something her Father never exposed her to in the ice and snow of Finland. She experiences enjoyment, fragility, empathy, confusion, happiness and even love.
Despite her prowess as a stone cold killer she is not heartless as evidenced in her awkwardly tender scenes with the talkative Sophie. While Hanna’s nearly non-existent social skills might be Wright’s sly commentary on the potential negative effects of homeschooling, on very quiet nighttime scene between Hanna and Sophie is one of the most graceful and honest intimate moments between two teenage girls I have seen recently. And then Ronan is able to shift emotional gears effortlessly and seamlessly into those wild action sequences with her lithe frame that springs like a tightly wound coil into unforgiving and punishing shootouts, hand-to hand combat and relentless chases. Saorise Ronan is the real deal, folks and I am anxious to watch her grow into adult roles and see where her career will take her.
From beginning to end, “Hanna” is a standout motion picture that more than delivers the goods while making everything feel so fresh and vividly new. As I have said before, my lack of enthusiasm with the action genre, has at times, made me fear that perhaps I was growing out of something that I have enjoyed so much throughout my life of going to the movies. But, when I see a film of this high caliber, I realize again that it is not my age or level of maturity. It is just my response to how the film placed in front of me has been executed.
“Hanna” is executed brilliantly and with the precision of a perfectly aimed bullet to the brain.
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