Joe Wright’s kinetic, artistic, sort-of-spy-thriller Hanna is so many things we’ve already seen but something totally and uniquely all its own, all at once. Take aspects of The Bourne Identity, Leon, Kick-Ass, Run Lola Run and then filter it through the prism of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale and you almost get an approximation of this strange, at times surreal, occasionally bewildering, entirely engrossing movie from Wright, who has consistently demonstrated a terrific ability to genre-hop (here doing an exceedingly stylish and physically impressive action film) after a classically confident start to his directing career (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, and The Soloist came before; the obscenely underrated Anna Karenina followed, with Pan finding release this October). The plot is best not to be poured over too closely as there are definitely some holes and questions of logic (not to mention geography) but never mind — the film is a rush of motion, color, texture, violence, and pulsating sound (the restless, techno-themed score is by The Chemical Brothers and the fantastic cinematographer Alwin Kuchler handled the often stunning camerawork) which adds up to a blur of visceral excitement. The spectacular young actress Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Way Back) is positively stellar as the titular heroine, a 15 year old girl raised by her ex-CIA agent father (a customarily intense Eric Bana) to be a ruthless killer. Shielded all her life from the outside world, Hanna knows how to run, shoot, chop, and kill her way to safety. Enter the icy, dangerous Marissa (the always perfect Cate Blanchett), a government operative with a thing for silencers, razor-sharp red haircuts, and electronic toothbrushes (this movie has tons of quirks which always keeps it interesting). Marissa will stop at nothing to find Hanna — but why? Wright directs this visually expressive modern fairy tale with extreme panache, utilizing an attention grabbing blend of aesthetic tricks that spice up the picture, with Kuchler getting a chance to show off a few times during the set-pieces by shooting the action all in one take or in rough-and-tumble fashion. There’s an interesting mix of hand-held camerawork coupled with jagged editing patterns, that somehow fits perfectly with Wright’s traditionally fluid shooting style (a six or seven minute long steadicam fight sequence with Bana taking on a group of assassins is the movie’s obvious tour de force of technical virtuosity). Films like Hanna have been done before but never quite like this.
Podcasting Them Softly 