Hanna

Hanna (2011)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: Joe Wright

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams

From: Several different companies

Did people know that Amazon turned this into a show and that will debut in March?

It took discovering this was being turned into an Amazon show for me to finally check the film out. While the premise sounded pretty cool-including the idea that this had fairy tale motifs-I know people who did not like it so I put this on the back-burner until I gave myself motivation.

In hindsight, I am not surprised some would not be thrilled by a tale where an ex-CIA dad trains his daughter from birth to be an assassin for the purpose of killing an old boss who wants him dead because he knows something that must remain a secret. The film was pretty cold and arch.. in fact, sometimes too much so for my tastes. That wasn't the biggest issue though; some of the supporting characters I did not care for. One camp is “too goofy” and the other was “REALLY annoying” and it was unfortunate when I realized the movie would be spending time with a few who fell into the latter category.

That is a shame as even with all that, I can say this is pretty good. One big reason is Saoirse Ronan; the other main players (Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett) delivered quality performances but she was great as the titular Hanna. It was great seeing her acclimate herself in a world totally foreign for someone that grew up in the north Finlandian woods and had never even heard music before... of course a light tube and television would be mind-blowing. The film is stylish but not too much so, the action is a lot of fun and as I had wished for, The Chemical Brothers soundtrack was superb.

I've only seen a teaser for the upcoming Amazon show, to be released sometime in March. I imagine it won't have the diverse locations that allowed for some interesting action setpieces but hopefully it is alright, despite people having seen the movie knowing what the show's plot is, unless they decide to swerve everyone. Another presumption is that it won't be as idiosyncratic or arch as the film, which could mean it is too generic and thus dull and rote instead... let's hope not.