While experiencing a bout of boredom, I started randomly looking through my DVD collection tonight to see if something jumped out at me. What did was Hanna. I only watched Hanna once and it has been years ago, probably while I was in law school. I really couldn't remember it much except that it had Saoirse Ronan in it and that I had liked it well enough to pick up a used copy at a bookstore.I am happy to report that Hanna is just as good as I remember it being. Hanna is in the same genre as the Bourne movies, but the twist here is that the Jason Bourne character is a teenage girl. Raised by her ex-spy father in the arctic to be a super-soldier, Hanna has to take on the evil CIA, led by Cate Blanchett as the evil CIA lady. The CIA's motivations aren't really clear throughout the movie, although it appears to be something about DNA modification and, like all movies featuring the CIA, a desire to cover up past mistakes. And what better way to cover up mistakes than by murder? It turns out that Hanna's mother was murdered by the CIA and her father has spent her entire life preparing her to be his weapon of revenge.
The rest of the movie is spent in true action movie fashion with a chase across North Africa and Europe, a trail of bodies left behind each step of the way. By the end of the movie, she is questioning all the violence, especially how people are being hurt that she cares about, and has to decide what she wants to become.
Grade: A
It seems to me that Hanna has kind of been forgotten or maybe wasn't that big when it came out. I wasn't really aware of it at the time, which isn't saying much at all. But nobody seems to talk about it anymore, which is a real shame. It is very entertaining, which is the most important thing for an action movie to be. But it is also beautifully shot and the fighting is well choreographed. Saoirse Ronan brings an animalistic ferocity to her character's action scenes and really does a great job throughout. I haven't seen her in a lot of movies, but it seems like she has kind of steered away from action movies, which is unfortunate. But Hanna is definitely an underrated gem and worth checking out.
Caveat Spectator
This is an action movie and some of the violence can be graphic, although not too graphic because it stays within the PG-13 range. There is a scene at the beginning of the movie where Hanna kills and butchers a reindeer and the entrails and intestines of the deer are seen laying in the snow while she butchers it. There is also a scene where Hanna, after a humorously disastrous attempt to kiss a guy she had met, ends up kissing a girl instead. The movie doesn't make a big deal about it and there isn't any more besides that that happens.
