Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
HistoryProf
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:48 am
Location: KCK

Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#1 Post by HistoryProf » Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:27 pm

So I caught a twilight showing of this tonight and came away incredibly impressed. For lack of a better term, it's an action flick with a significant art house vibe throughout. What really set it apart was the fantastic score by the Chemical Brothers...who channeled all the flair that Daft Punk tried to pull off with Tron Legacy and mixed with theramin inspired effects. It was incredibly well integrated with the action on the screen, and really helped make the film almost mesmerizing at times. The scenes at the end in a derelict Berlin amusement park were inspired for what could have been a cliche-ridden final showdown so typical of the genre. At the same time, there's nothing terribly earth shattering in the plot conventions or storyline, but that's not what sets a film like this apart. It's a tight script, but more importantly, it's extremely well acted and beautifully shot. There are some really great moments where Wright delves into how a girl raised in complete isolation takes in the modern world and tries to reconcile the bits and pieces of knowledge her father read to her with the complex realities of life - most impressively (again) with music.

Finally, the real revelation here is Saoirse Ronan. This girl just nails a difficult role without being over the top. There's restraint in her eyes in nearly every scene...it's a remarkably mature performance. The rest of the cast is good, though I'm not sure why Cate needed a southern accent, maybe because she hadn't done one yet. But that's a trifling complaint in what is otherwise a refreshingly smart and thoughtful film with a nice balance of action and character development, showing us that it is indeed possible to have both in a genre film. Hopefully Hollywood is paying attention, and I pray this does well at the Box Office to help reinforce the message.
Last edited by HistoryProf on Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
dad1153
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:32 am
Location: New York, NY

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#2 Post by dad1153 » Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:02 pm

Early box office numbers are good, coming just behind the much-hyped "Arthur" remake at #3.

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#3 Post by Jeff » Sat Apr 09, 2011 10:27 pm

I agree that it is great fun for the most part, has some really beautiful and unusual shots, and that Saoirse Ronan is the real deal. I really didn't understand why they had to
SpoilerShow
push the red button and alert Marissa to their whereabouts though. It became clear later on that it wasn't particularly difficult for Erik to track down Marissa, show up at her residence, and potentially take her down. Of course it would have worked much better if she hadn't been expecting him. If he was capable of getting to her, why wouldn't he have just left the woods on his own, gone to kill Marissa, and then gone back to get Hanna?

The Big Red Button and the entire conceit of needing Hanna to get captured ultimately seemed completely unnecessary to me, and kind of undermined the proceedings.
Am I missing something or asking too much from this sort of movie? As I said, I really enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that in terms of premise it holds up to even a little scrutiny or reflection.

User avatar
MoonlitKnight
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#4 Post by MoonlitKnight » Sat Apr 09, 2011 10:51 pm

Jeff wrote:IAm I missing something or asking too much from this sort of movie? As I said, I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that in terms of premise it holds up to even a little scrutiny or reflection.
Ultimately I think it was more or less intended as her initiation into the world ("Kids grow up," as Erik says at the end)... and finally putting her training/learnings to proper use -- and what better way to do so than by having her kill her "father"'s #1 nemesis?. It's probably all metaphorical, but I was too wrapped up in the journey to care. :-$

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#5 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:21 pm

Hanna, I fear, is going to be one of those brilliant little films that I end up liking a great deal more than even its vocal supporters. I'm sure I've said in the past that, with a few exceptions, there's nothing more tiresome than an action movie, but here is a thriller that is so captivating in its novel approaches concerning editing and mise-en-scene that I was enraptured in a pure film-loving joy. It had honestly never occurred to me to make an action film in the style of an art house pic, mainly because who would ever fund such a thing? Well, someone did, and the result straddles the esoteric/approachable line marvelously. The action is fluid and intuitive (and this must surely be the most violent PG-13 film I've ever seen!), and not just in the (justly) showy sequences like the underground station fight which plays out rather unfathomably in one unbroken take. As for the plot, well, you sort of either go with a movie like this or you don't, but I thought the pic poked the underlying tragedy of Hanna's situation with enough sticks.

AND THAT SCORE! \:D/

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#6 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:59 pm

Thanks for the review, domino. I couldn't wait to see this before, and now I really can't wait.

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#7 Post by Jeff » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:58 pm

I wouldn't want my niggling about the plot to deter anyone from seeing it, because it is ultimately, as Domino said, rather beside the point. There is a lot to like. I've been recommending to all of my friends who only like mainstream movies, yet inexplicably always ask me what they should see. They would kill me if I sent them to Certified Copy, but Hanna is simply an artful action thriller which seems like it would have broad appeal. I'm dumbfounded as to why it has a 'C+' Cinemascore rating.

Wright has such a knack for shooting comprehensible action sequences that guys like Paul Greengrass and even Chris Nolan really seem to struggle with. Everything feels fluid and natural. Some of the shots were just stunning. I loved the establishing shot in the sequence where the family that Hanna befriends is being questioned and everyone is set up in an individual shipping container staged like a diorama. That would have been a throwaway shot in most films.

User avatar
cdnchris
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Washington
Contact:

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#8 Post by cdnchris » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:00 pm

I'm completely with Domino on this one and I don't think I can add anything on top of it. It's an exciting action/thriller at its base, even if a little ludicrous, but the "art house" style lifted it and made it so much more memorable. There's so many gorgeous and captivating sequences in here that I'm still thinking about. I loved the finale, which was absolutely surreal, and I also loved the one sequence where the Euro thugs are guarding their prisoners, more-or-less dancing around, whistling that show tune from earlier (and yes, the Chemical Brothers score is brilliant) but my favourite would have to be the train station; there's no way they did that in one shot, is there? I'm tempted to go back and watch more closely for an edit or a possible computer effect, but considering Wright did that amazing single take in Atonemenet I guess I'll have to take it a face value.

I was watching this and loving it but thinking there was no way in hell anyone else in this theater could be enjoying it because compared to other films it really is bizarre. I beyond surprised and elated when a large portion of the filled theater applauded at the end.

I liked Atonement and Pride and Prejudice well enough but after this Wright has my complete attention.
Jeff wrote:Wright has such a knack for shooting comprehensible action sequences that guys like Paul Greengrass and even Chris Nolan really seem to struggle with. Everything feels fluid and natural. Some of the shots were just stunning.
I like Nolan, but you're right, he can't shoot an action scene, and I'm so sick of action sequences where you can't see anything because (I assume) they just don't know what they're doing and don't know how to make it exciting and figure a jerky camera and quick editing will help, when all it does is disorient the viewer. But here the fight scene in the train station was quick and brutal (and apparently done in one take) and it was thrilling and stunning and (most importantly) you could see everything and knew where everyone was. It looked so effortless.

User avatar
dad1153
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:32 am
Location: New York, NY

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#9 Post by dad1153 » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:03 pm

Final box office numbers came in, "Hanna" beats "Arthur" as the week's #2 movie (behind "Hop"). No one-two box office domination for Russell Brand (hooray).
Last edited by dad1153 on Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#10 Post by Jeff » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:05 pm

cdnchris wrote:I also loved the one sequence where the Euro thugs are guarding their prisoners, more-or-less dancing around, whistling that show tune from earlier
I can't be the only one who thought of Peter Lorre when the tiny German guy was wandering the docks looking for Hanna and whistling that tune.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#11 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:06 pm

Jeff wrote: I loved the establishing shot in the sequence where the family that Hanna befriends is being questioned and everyone is set up in an individual shipping container staged like a diorama. That would have been a throwaway shot in most films.
(Real spoiler, don't click if you haven't seen)

Speaking of,
SpoilerShow
Was debating this after the film last night with my friends: I suppose we're left to imagine their fate for ourselves since they're a pretty likable lot, but God, the more I think about it, that family had to have all been killed afterwards, right?

User avatar
HistoryProf
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:48 am
Location: KCK

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#12 Post by HistoryProf » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:11 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Thanks for the review, domino. I couldn't wait to see this before, and now I really can't wait.
but he just said the same thing I did!? I see how it is :(

User avatar
cdnchris
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Washington
Contact:

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#13 Post by cdnchris » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:14 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Jeff wrote: I loved the establishing shot in the sequence where the family that Hanna befriends is being questioned and everyone is set up in an individual shipping container staged like a diorama. That would have been a throwaway shot in most films.
(Real spoiler, don't click if you haven't seen)

Speaking of,
SpoilerShow
Was debating this after the film last night with my friends: I suppose we're left to imagine their fate for ourselves since they're a pretty likable lot, but God, the more I think about it, that family had to have all been killed afterwards, right?
SpoilerShow
I'm unfortunately pretty sure they were, but I guess it leaves it leaves it open to interpretation by the general audience who would find it a huge turn off if they were all murdered: my wife prefers to think they were let go.
Oh yeah, and Cate was a bad-ass.

User avatar
HistoryProf
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:48 am
Location: KCK

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#14 Post by HistoryProf » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:15 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Jeff wrote: I loved the establishing shot in the sequence where the family that Hanna befriends is being questioned and everyone is set up in an individual shipping container staged like a diorama. That would have been a throwaway shot in most films.
(Real spoiler, don't click if you haven't seen)

Speaking of,
SpoilerShow
Was debating this after the film last night with my friends: I suppose we're left to imagine their fate for ourselves since they're a pretty likable lot, but God, the more I think about it, that family had to have all been killed afterwards, right?
That was my one question walking out of the theater, and I basically settled on the same conclusion. I really can't imagine how it could go any other way. Which kind of sucks in a way I guess....but it's also yet another point in Wright's favor - sometimes you have to leave them guessing.

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#15 Post by knives » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:17 pm

By the way is Blanchett's accent as acidic on the ears as the trailers suggest? That's really the only reason I was going to pass on this before all of the enthusiasm.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#16 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:20 pm

knives wrote:By the way is Blanchett's accent as acidic on the ears as the trailers suggest? That's really the only reason I was going to pass on this before all of the enthusiasm.
Actually, and I will tread lightly here, I didn't even register what she was doing until another character draws attention to the accent early in the film*. Outside of the occasional "Darlin'," it's not really that over-pronounced

*
SpoilerShow
I don't even think Blanchett says anything remotely "Southern" until after the decoy bites it, possibly to sell the hamminess of her imitator for the audience?

User avatar
HistoryProf
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:48 am
Location: KCK

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#17 Post by HistoryProf » Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:27 pm

knives wrote:By the way is Blanchett's accent as acidic on the ears as the trailers suggest? That's really the only reason I was going to pass on this before all of the enthusiasm.
it's not that bad...it's more kind of a "huh?" moment a few times, but everything else going on is so great they pass almost instantly.

I'm just so happy others seem to like it as much as I did. I hope it continues to do well at the box office.

User avatar
Professor Wagstaff
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:27 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#18 Post by Professor Wagstaff » Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:21 pm

I loved Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, but his follow-up efforts of Atonement and The Soloist left me cold, pretentious awards bait that didn't sync up with his style. I was delighted to catch up with Hanna last night and see Wright get back into his groove and really nailing the rythms of an arthouse action picture, at times reminding me of Run Lola Run.

Also, Tom Hollander basically playing the Udo Kier role was a lot of fun.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#19 Post by domino harvey » Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:35 am

cdnchris wrote: But here the fight scene in the train station was quick and brutal (and apparently done in one take) and it was thrilling and stunning and (most importantly) you could see everything and knew where everyone was. It looked so effortless.
I saw the film again tonite (and it still holds up, is a modern masterpiece, &c) and paid attention to the one take sequence and, don't reveal if you don't want to know, obv
SpoilerShow
I spied one cut for sure and one cut I think happened. Starting with Erik getting off the bus until just after he comes out of the grocery store, the pan across the man leaning against the pillar facing the audience is a probable cut hid by the moving figure, but it's hard to say for sure. The second cut, one I know for sure happens, is one of the orange pillars underground just as Erik is entering the station. Keep in mind, though, the actual hardest logistical sequence, the fight itself, still looks uncut to my eyes, which is still remarkable

User avatar
James Mills
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:12 pm
Location: el ciudad del angeles

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#20 Post by James Mills » Thu Apr 21, 2011 5:07 pm

I'm happy to see all the praise for this film, but I'm still unsure I want to see anything by Wright after disliking Atonement more than any other film of 2007.

Nothing
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:04 am

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#21 Post by Nothing » Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:31 pm

Yep, Atonement was trash, the low-point being the inappropriate and messy sequence shot on the beach, designed entirely to show off.

User avatar
aox
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: nYc

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#22 Post by aox » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:40 am

For some reason I thought someone had made a bio pic about Senator Mark Hanna, and the rise and assassination of President McKinley.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#23 Post by MichaelB » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:43 am

I thought it was a biopic of the late British political commentator Vincent Hanna, animated in the style of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

What a bunch of wacky commentators we have!

#24 Post by domino harvey » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:44 am

I thought it was a movie about a teenage assassin

User avatar
Cronenfly
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:04 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#25 Post by Cronenfly » Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:19 am

While it does my heart good to see the forum rally around a contemporary film by a non-canonical director, I share Jeff’s hesitations about the film’s paper-thin plotting. I love style over substance as much as anyone, but compared to, say, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Hanna doesn’t go nearly far enough to compensate for the imbalance. There is some nice character shading (especially Blanchett, whose incongruous accent is matched by her obsessive oral hygiene, and Holllander, with his litany of repulsive track suits), but even these elements reflect the screenplay’s over-fondness for shorthand (Hanna’s encyclopedia-learning and -speech, the Grimm’s Fairy Tale aspects) in lieu of a real plot outside of the chase (Bana, so central to the first act, is pretty much a non-entity once the action commences, and feels clumsily reintegrated thereafter).
SpoilerShow
The introduction of genetic engineering late in the film by way of explanation feels very tacked on indeed; I liked it only for the way in which it clarified Blanchett’s creepy maternal feelings towards the protagonist.
Still much to like here (the action sequences are, as noted, expertly staged and shot for maximum clarity, while the actors acquit themselves well with sometimes thin material, as in the case of Olivia Williams’ New Age-y matriarch, whose admiration for Hanna’s “independent” upbringing is a nice, if unsubtle, gag), but I was not as blown away as some. Would still take it over a plottier, Bourne-style film any day, and hope it is a sign of more interesting things to come from Mr. Wright.

Post Reply