A Young Assassin Discovers the World (and Herself) in Hanna
It seems like in the movies if you’re an assassin you’re either pursuing, being pursued, or contemplating how it is you got in either situation. Hanna is the latest assassin-on-the-run film and, while it has its share of incredible action, it is much more than your garden-variety chase movie. That’s because it is directed by Joe Wright, best known for his character-driven adaptations of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement. Here, Wright tries his hand at the action-thriller genre and the result is quite successful.
The film stars Saoirse (ser-sha) Ronan as a teenager who’s been raised by her father (Eric Bana) in the woods, learning how to live simply, independently, and to become a lethal adversary of anyone looking for trouble. At the age of fourteen, she decides she’s ready to go out into the world, separating from her father for the first time. However, both daughter and father know that there are those who would kill to catch them, so they make a plan to meet up somewhere in Europe. They expose their location in the woods (for inexplicable reasons), one thing leads to another, and soon we’re on the run with Hanna as she eludes a government agency led by Cate Blanchett. But there’s more to Hanna than she knows.
That’s the simple version of this film, but, as I mentioned before, there’s much more to this than a story about a trained teenaged killer on the run. First of all, Hanna has never experienced the modern world, technology, music, or anyone in her age range. This makes for some wonderful character moments as she wanders into civilization (even if it’s Morocco).
Also, there’s a Grimm fairy tale motif that pops up throughout the film. Many elements or hallmarks of those tales manifest in the form of the woodsman (Bana), the wicked stepmother or evil queen (Blanchett), the huntsman (a hired hand played by Tom Hollander), and the youth-centered adventure, not to mention the visual references to the Grimm fairy tales (a storybook and the location of an ally). These all add a nuance to Hanna that is quite different from what one might expect in a film like this.
What’s more interesting than that is Wright seems to be dabbling in existentialist themes. What makes us who we are? Can you be something other than what you’re raised or born to be? What makes us the person we grow up to be: nature or the environment around us? This is specifically explored with both Hanna and the teenager (Jessica Barden) of a family Hanna befriends. The teenager, Sophie, is being raised by nomadic hippie parents, yet is obsessed with pop culture and dresses, talks, and behaves precociously like a pop singer (there might also be a subtle commentary on the affects of pop culture on youth’s personalities here). Hanna and Sophie, who is completely unaware of Hanna’s background, befriend each other because they find their different personalities – Sophie full of Valley Girl vacuity, Hanna a blank slate full of curiosity – fascinating. The story – and Hanna’s journey – takes a welcomed detour to develop this theme for a while, which pays off during the film’s climax when Hanna faces the person responsible for her existential quandary. She ends the film the way it begins, only with the promise of a different kind of journey to follow.
Intriguing as the film is, it isn’t without its flaws. If one were to spend over a decade in hiding in the wilderness, training his child to be able to lethally protect herself from dangerous forces until the day said child was ready to go out into the world, why would one have a device on hand to alert said dangerous forces as to one’s location? I fail to understand the logic behind this. It serves as little more than a device (literal and figurative) to set the plot in motion. Also, Marissa, a silver-tongued viper played with an icy veneer by Blanchett, dispatches a hired thug (Hollander) to catch Hanna, yet said thug simply lets pass every opportunity he has to carry out his order.
However, these are minor quibbles in what is the year’s first great thriller.
If you enjoyed the level of intelligence of such chase films as The Bourne Identity, another film about an assassin who discovers unknown truths about himself, then you’ll enjoy Hanna. It strikes a nice balance between action, character development, and thematic substance. It is a thrilling popcorn film with an energetic score by the Chemical Brothers and, most notably, an intelligence that sets it apart from anything else currently in theaters.
8/10
Should you see it? Buy tickets
Hanna is now in theaters.