Film Review: Hanna

Blame it on the script: arty action flick misses the mark

Posted on April 20, 2011, at 11:46 p.m.

The trailer for “Hanna” promises a far different picture from the actual film. Directed by Joe Wright, the craftsman of “Atonement” and “Pride and Prejudice,” “Hanna” is far more art film than action thriller, resulting in a series of half-baked ideas and unrealized potential.

It’s a shame, really, because the film would have been really great if it had just been given an extra push. It’s something I actively want to love, but end up only kind of liking.

Saoirse Ronan leads the film as the namesake character, a teenage assassin trained in the Antarctic by her father, played by Eric Bana. She is raised in isolation and possesses killer instincts that would make Katniss Everdeen jealous.

When Hanna is finally deemed ready to enter the real world, her father produces a transmitter that will alert CIA agent Marissa Viegler, played by Cate Blanchett to her location. Hanna flips the switch, accepting her mission is to kill Viegler, while Viegler prepares to kill Hanna first.

George Lucas once claimed that the only parts of a movie that matter are the first 15 minutes and the last 20 — all the rest is filler. The first act of Hanna is thrilling, and the final confrontation is well executed, but Wright does the film a disservice by following Lucas’ example.

Extraneous characters are brought in and dispatched without gaining the audience’s interest, and an extended sequence with Hanna playing nice with a traveling family caused several glances at my wristwatch. It would be like Jason Bourne taking a time out to go wine tasting in Northern California. It just doesn’t fit.

I enjoy Wright’s work a lot, especially “Atonement,” which pulled the rug out from under the suckers who frequent period romance schlock. As a director, he brings a lot to “Hanna,” and you get the feeling that the film would be a complete disaster in anyone else’s hands.

Bana, Ronan and Blanchett all acquit themselves well, particularly Ronan, who pulls a complete 180 from her character in last year’s “The Lovely Bones.” They’re all smart enough to avoid the trappings of a stupid action movie, elevating the material higher than it really deserves.

The problem is the script, credited to David Farr and Seth Lochhead. It delivers a fresh, interesting premise, but fails to give this creature anything to do. They treat Hanna’s origin as if it was a big reveal, but anyone who’s seen a Bond or Bourne film will see it coming from the beginning. They also fail to do anything with this information. It doesn’t alter Hanna’s mission one iota, nor does it affect the people around her. If she had been told about it up front, the story would be no different.

The prestige and talent in front of and behind the camera is, quite frankly, more than the script deserves, and the result is a frustrating movie. It’s worth a watch, but nothing special. It doesn’t have the frantic pace of Bourne, the exotic nature of Bond, or even the campy fun of “Taken.”

It works in fits and starts, but no one will remember it this time next year.

Grade: B-

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 20th, 2011, 11:46 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.