DVD Reviews

Hanna – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Sep 15, 2011, 14:51 GMT

$RAISED BY HER FATHER AN EX-CIA AGENT, IN THE WILDS OF FINLAND, HANNA\'S UPBRINGING AND TRAINING HAVE BEEN ONE AND THE SAME, ALL GEARED TO MAKING HER THE PERFECT ASSASSIN. THE TURNING POINT IN HER ADOLESCENCE IS A SHARP ONE. SENT INTO THE WORLD BY HER FATHER ON A MISSION, HANNA JOURNEYS STEALTHILY ACROSS EUROPE.$

RAISED BY HER FATHER AN EX-CIA AGENT, IN THE WILDS OF FINLAND, HANNA\'S UPBRINGING AND TRAINING HAVE BEEN ONE AND THE SAME, ALL GEARED TO MAKING HER THE PERFECT ASSASSIN. THE TURNING POINT IN HER ADOLESCENCE IS A SHARP ONE. SENT INTO THE WORLD BY HER FATHER ON A MISSION, HANNA JOURNEYS STEALTHILY ACROSS EUROPE. ...more

Hanna is an interesting girl. She’s been isolated but trained for a very specific purpose. Her journey features wonderful locales, grand performances, and enough action and adventure akin to James Bond or Jason Bourne.

Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) lives in isolation on an arctic tundra with her father Erik (Eric Bana). Erik is training her for a mission and decides that it is time for her to fulfill it. He gives her a homing beacon and tells her to activate it when she is ready to begin it.

Hanna eventually activates it and it sets off alerts to CIA operative Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) who sends a team to pick up Erik but only finds Hanna. Hanna has some unfinished business with the crafty Marissa and she’ll have to travel across several continents till she finally finishes her mission.

I tried not to mention what exactly Hanna is going to do because part of the fun and mystery is following her on that journey. I guess it’s not too hard to figure out what Erik is training Hanna for, but I shant spoil it for you.

The resulting journey has both a coming of age aspect for Hanna, but also has an odd fairytale quality. I found the quality not so pronounced that it veered the film further away from reality. Not that a highly trained teenaged “spy” is a particular reality.

What’s also nice about the film is that it serves as a sort of travelogue. This aspect reminds of somewhat of the Bond films. You usually got to see exotic locales as Bond goes on his mission.

The same is true for Hanna since she goes to some exciting European places. Another bit that also reminded me of Bond is the production design during the escape bit. I bet Ken Adams was a spiritual advisor on it (although I think it was more the location that they used). The film is also spiced up by compelling acting with high honors going to Ronan who plays both cunning danger and naivety in Hanna.

Bana disappears for a long stretch but he also plays the mastermind and the father figure with strength. Blanchett surveys a smiling villain but we know that a devil lurks underneath those shiny, clean teeth. It’s a grand turn from Blanchett.

Even small roles are played with skill and are made memorable. The film might be thought of as a more sophisticated version of a Bond film. Maybe more shades of gray than Bond’s blacks and whites.

Hanna is presented in widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by director Joe Wright, a 90 second alternate ending (basically an epilogue that would’ve come after the film’s final scene), 4 minutes of deleted scenes, and a 3 minute “Anatomy of a Scene” about the big escape scene.

Hanna is quite the journey for both the viewer and the young lady the film is named after. It’s one that is easy to get caught up in, whether that is in the action or exotic locales. There certainly is much to admire in the acting that is on display.