Eric Banna - Erik
Cate Blanchett - Marissa
Joe Wright (Director)
I just got home from my viewing of HANNA. Please excuse me for being a little hyperbolic. This is the greatest movie of 2011 so far! Although it is only April and the competition hasn't been stellar yet either. HANNA however did everything right that all the other films this year has done wrong.
HANNA is the story of a young girl raised in the snowy woods near the arctic circle. Her father is raising her to be a warrior of sorts. The mother is not in the picture (both metaphorically and maternally). It seems her father is some sort of rouge government agent and he is preparing HANNA for what she may have to live with once she leaves the nest.
HANNA is a punch in the face to spring time movies. HANNA has everything that I have been looking for in both Source Code and Sucker Punch. It has action, real stakes, inventive and mind blowing camera work, a mostly tight and creative script, a bad ass score from the Chemical Brothers (which I purchased as soon as I fired up my computer and I'm sure I am angering some neighbors by blasting while I type this), fantastic performance even from the supporting cast members. Basically it is an action movie with wonderful amounts of action.
But being that it is directed by Joe Wright, he also has the sensibilities to perfectly handle the tender moments in the script. I love his use of close ups in all of his movies. But being that he is Joe Wright he just can't help himself to throw in some mind f'king shots. There is a single shot that I would guess runs 6 minutes through a bus stop, down the street and into a subway like area and concludes with Eric Bana kicking 5 guys asses! All one take.
This film also helped fuel my rage against the good people of Germany. This film is a globe trotting one. HANNA and her father as well as those after them movie from Poland to Morocco to Spain and Germany. While making a stop in Germany Marissa solicits the help of a uber-creepy, warm up suit wearing German and his three stooges. They are German with a vengeance. That is to say that they symbolize everything about the German people that I find revolting if not stereotypical. Every time the leader whistles a children's song and it made my skin crawl.
The performance were amazing. Eric Bana as Erik was solid. I find him a bit hammy most of the time, but here he was playing it straight and it worked. I praise Joe Wright for that. While still relatively new to most audiences (her biggest role was the lead in Lovely Bones), Saoirse Ronan blew my mind in this. She plays the title role and she fully embodied this character. She knew the tone and executed her craft without flaw. At time the script called for her to be amazed by technology (a scene that has been over done in far inferior movies). I was afraid that she was going to get all Planet of the Apes stupid when turning on and off a light switch or watching TV for the first time. And she didn't. She and Wright must have been on exactly the same page. They had worked together once before in the film that launched her career, Atonement. Then Cate Blanchett as the CIA agent determined to bring them down before her secret gets out. This role could have easily fallen through the cracks like Vera Farmiga in Source Code or could have gone out of control crazy like Jeffery Wright in Source Code. But she too finds the fine line to walk. I guess I shouldn't be surprised looking at her track record. As far as I know she is the only person to play Queen Elizabeth I, Katherine Hepburn and Bob Dylan. And be nominated for an Oscar for all three!
It is official, this soundtrack is going to be my permanent blogging music. My dog seems to hate it. He has poor taste.
I want to talk a little more about the action scenes and they way they were shot and edited. That's not true. I want to talk A LOT about these scenes, but I won't in the name of good taste. I was hooked on this film once the first shot from a gun was fired and the entire screen was filled with a blood red title card that said HANNA. From then on there are a few short lived action scenes of Erik training HANNA. These are brief, but brilliant. They are constructed in a way to give you a taste of what is to come without blowing its load in the first 20 minutes. Then when HANNA has to make her first get away, I about shouted at the screen! It was the most intense camera work I have seen in a while and it was all shot in real life. I am sure they added or touched up things digitally in post, but the majority of what you see on screen had to have been happening for real. The editing is rapid fire and it fits in perfectly with the soundtrack. I thought I had had enough of the circling camera technique, but Wright does it right and it truly added to the sense of panic and confusion. Later in the film in the shipping yard the camera style bounces effortlessly between long takes, rapid fire cross cutting and Steadicam madness. Yet it all works and fits together like a puzzle.
I try not to recommend movies. I try to simply give my takes on a film. But this is now the 3rd week in a row where the film I have chosen to go see hasn't finished 1st at the box office. And for the first time I think that is a travesty. Support creative and entertaining cinema. Go see HANNA!
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