Hanna

2011
Dir: Joe Wright
 

Leon, Kick-Ass, Kill Bill, Serenity, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer; we certainly do like our heroes young, deadly and … female. From English director Joe Wright, Hanna is a continuation of this esteemed lineage of bad-ass teen vixens. Is there some kind of perverse curiosity behind these portrayals of young girls? Or is it, as Joss Whedon stated when discussing the creation of the now household name Buffy Summers, a kind of feminist empowerment? Gone are the days of the screaming, big-breasted, ditzy blonde running away from the cock-wielding killer, replaced instead by girls still sweet and innocent at a first glance, but ready to rip your balls off at the drop of a hat.

Hanna follows the escapades of the titular hero, a sixteen-year-old girl raised in the woods of Finland by her father. But her education does not walk the same path as ours. There is no Biff, Chip and Kipper stories; there are no school sports days. Oh no. Hanna is trained from birth to be a living, breathing weapon. She is taught how to fight, how to speak any number of languages, and, most importantly of all, how to survive alone when the day comes. And come that day does, when sinister agent Marissa Wiegler becomes aware of the girl’s presence and sets off to hunt her down.

The opening of Hanna is wonderful. Very similar to The Hughes Brothers’ latest offering, The Book of Eli, we are greeted by the sight of an anonymous hunter crouching in the woods, stalking their prey. This time, instead of the post-apocalyptic setting, we have the crisp, beautiful white wilderness of the Finnish forest, as Hanna is introduced. For a director whose craft has thus far been in literary adaptations of such novels as Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, you might be surprised by this visual prowess from Joe Wright. But if you look back at his past films, despite their heavy reliance on acting, he displays some real flair for the eye, such as Atonement’s Dunkirk beach scene. It is a treat to watch such a young director experimenting with the camera as much as Wright does in Hanna. You can tell that he is having a blast in his first original adventure, from the old school, blood-spattered title to Hanna’s seizure-inducing escape sequence from Wielgler’s underground base, complete with strobe lighting and a pounding Chemical Brothers soundtrack that really gets your heart banging against your ribcage. It’s frenetic action right out of the Bourne playbook.

This might be the most interesting take on a fairy tale you will ever see. From the young girl setting off into the dark forests of the world alone for the very first time, to the wicked witch pursuing her, this is simple, classic storytelling with a devilish twist. Wright knows it too. The film is all too aware of it fairy tale qualities, referencing them throughout, with the ending, as Cate Blanchett’s villainess stalks our hero out of a rather unsubtle wolf’s head, a particular nod to the works of Grimm.

All of this might be an excuse for the characterization to go undeveloped, but this is far from the case. As Hanna, Saorise Ronan is a captivating screen presence, and about the most likeable assassin you are ever likely to see. There is none of the street smart, foul-mouthed, wise cracking of Leon’s Mathilda or Kick-Ass’ Hit-Girl, Hanna is much more reminiscent of Summer Glau’s River from Joss Whedon’s Science Fiction adventure Serenity; calm and innocent until the moment she strikes. There is a genuine look of innocence in her eyes as she experiences the world for the first time, which makes it hard to root against her.

And I almost do want to root against her, because the people hunting her are so bloody entertaining. Cate Blanchett’s Marissa Wiegler and Tom Hollander’s tracksuit-clad Isaacs are not developed anywhere near the same level as our fleeing femme, but they are given enough quirky traits, and inject their characters with so much malicious delight that they almost steal the show. Blanchett is clearly having a ball playing an unusual role for her, overloading her Texan drawl to the point where it becomes comical and brushing her pearly white teeth into oblivion. Hollander, meanwhile, fresh off being utterly wasted in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, whistles his way through his every scene like a male Elle Driver.

Obviously there are some mishaps, with Eric Bana left rather wasted as Hanna’s mysterious father, whilst the English family that she gets stuck with on her travels might win the award for some of the most nauseatingly irritating figures in recent cinematic history. They are just bloody awful. But even they cannot detract from an otherwise superb film.

Hanna is an entertaining, exhilarating, often touching, and regularly amusing picture from a director who should let loose and try his hand at projects like this more often. What’s that? His next film is an adaptation of Anna Karenina? In the words of Gob Bluth, “Oh come on!”

**** / *****