The Case for Hanna Barbaric

I was not altogether convinced by the previews of Hanna that it would be a film for me.  A movie along the times of "innocent looking young girl is actually genetically enhanced killing machine" has been done many times, and I have to say that the actress playing the aforementioned Hanna, Saoirse Ronan, is not one of my favourites.  But then Kate Rodger gave it a thumbs up (more the pounding Chemical Brothers score than for anything else, perhaps) and with Eric Bana as Mr Miyagi, Cate Blanchett as another in her Accent of Evil rogues gallery, and the always wonderful Olivia Williams popping up as well ("Hi Adele!"), there were some definite reasons to go.

And I have to say that, overall, I was impressed.  There was really nothing new whatsoever in the film itself, with a fairly typical cross country chase by people who adamantly refuse to use ranged weapons, and the ending was pretty weak, but the way it was done was really impressive.  The amazing soundtrack definitely added a huge amount to proceedings, and the fact that most of the action happened in smaller, more "realistic" dwellings than usual leant a more British feel to the film, as opposed to more opulent lifestyle of the Americans. 

It was interesting to compare how Hanna turned out to the dire trailer for Abducted that preceded the feature film.  Abducted seems all upper middle class houses, vehicles and motorbikes, everything clean and shiny compared with the worn grime of Hanna, but then it was obvious that Abducted is a star vehicle for Taylor Lautner, showing casing his many talents (martial arts and action) and limits (I doubt he will win an award for acting any time soon).  Should the movie really be as dire as it looked, I am sure the film makers will exploit some of Lautner's more well-known attributes, turning the film more into Abs-ducted, but I digress.

I have already mentioned, while the supporting cast is something of a dream thesp collection of mine, I am not a big fan of Saoirse Ronan as she always seem to be permanently squinting, but her odd (and almost alienating, as opposed to quirky) etherealness kind of works in this film as Hanna is meant to be a bit strange.  Less strange but more irritating is the girl who befriends her, who is I am sure meant to be a comic relief character but ends up, in her very "there are probably tonnes of young girls this irritating" kind of way, to transform almost every scene in which she is allowed to speak from the tense action drama of Hanna to something closer to Sisterhood of the Whinging Travelling British Pants. 

But, despite these minor niggles, I was pretty engrossed for most of the film, with only a few moments of dullness making me realised that the film was stretching towards a two hour running time.  Hanna really was a whole load of absolute malarkey, but it ended up quite a bit of fun, and with a soundtrack that I am sure for which many action flicks would die at the hands of a genetically modified super soldier.

Verdict: Hanna exceeded my low expectations and proved to be a stylish take on a very well worn genre.  While tense and occasionally violent, the most disturbing shots were of Cate Blanchett's character's dental hygiene regime, but then all the (adult) support cast was superb.  7 CIA underground complexes in Morocco out of 10.