Cinema Snark: Hanna

I'm not generally a fan of describing movies with the rather lazy formula "it's like X meets Y" (which makes sense, considering that one of my hobbies is writing needlessly long reviews)--but this time around, I find the comparison too fun to ignore: Hanna is The Bourne Identity as told by the Brothers Grimm. (No, not those ones, despite the coincidental presence of Matt Damon in both films.)

From the beginning, Hanna was advertised as a modern fairy tale, even down to the "Once upon a time" at the start of the trailer. Hell, the opening scenes of the movie are about a girl and her father living in a cabin in the woods, and I'm sure a number of those woodland bits wouldn't look out of place in that trashy new Red Riding Hood movie. So, yeah: fairy tale.

Take away the violence and spies and all the modern trappings, and this becomes even clearer: on a very basic level, Hanna is the story of a sheltered girl who suddenly has to embark on a journey of self-discovery through a world that's filled with delight and danger. Of course, this isn't some saccharine-sweet Disney fable--the dangers are real, the violence is brutal, and much of the movie is filled with dark symbolism relating to lost innocence. Much of the final third of the movie takes place in or around a gingerbread house, and both of the climactic action sequences take place in run-down children's attractions (a playground and an abandoned theme park, respectively). The man that Cate Blanchett hires to follow and capture Hanna is a violent, depraved pedophile who whistles a creepily cheerful tune (which is mimicked to unsettling effect in the score) as he hunts his prey. (Though I've never seen or read A Clockwork Orange, I was eerily reminded of Malcolm McDowell's Alex.)

It's interesting that so much of Hanna revolves around the idea of innocence when the title character was raised to be a merciless killing machine, but she really is an innocent girl. Hanna is experiencing the outer world for the first time; she wants to make friends, to fall in love, to experience life for herself--but her combat and survival training is necessary in order for her to stay alive long enough to accomplish any of those goals. All the same, she has to grow and evolve as a person in order to have any hope of living a normal life. The movie's tagline sums it up well: "Adapt or die."

I really enjoyed Hanna, but it's definitely not perfect. The movie leaves a lot of loose ends, including some pretty significant details about Hanna's backstory and the motivations of several characters. The question of how much you'll enjoy Hanna probably has a lot to do with how detail-oriented you are: I tend to be more interested in broad concepts and themes than with precise execution, and I found myself able to look past the holes in the narrative. There's a surprising amount of depth to Hanna, if you're open to it--and one could even make the argument that the details it leaves out aren't necessary to the plot anyway. Here's the thing: if you're looking for a taut, well-plotted spy thriller, Hanna is honestly not your best bet. Director Joe Wright seems much more interested in creating a pervasive atmosphere of dreamlike surrealism, punctuated by bursts of fast, brutal violence. As such, Hanna is easier to classify as a fairy tale--and that classification also makes it easier to excuse some of the narrative weaknesses. Audiences are always curious about characters' pasts, but the movie is honestly more about the journey (i.e., where Hanna is going than where she's been). Similarly, you could argue that Cate Blanchett's motivations are never fully explored (and they're really not), but that becomes less important when you apply fairy tale logic: an evil queen/stepmother doesn't need a reason for being a crazy, murderous bitch (unless you're Neil Gaiman); she just is.

From a visual standpoint, the movie is great. Joel Wright's biggest projects before this were Atonement and Pride and Prejudice--not exactly action movies--but he rises to the challenges presented by this project and acquits himself well. The fight scenes are impressively clean (Wright himself has stated that while he admires Bourne director Paul Greengrass, he wanted to avoid the latter's frenzied action style), and most of the movie has an admirably distinctive look. The visuals are aided immensely by the soundtrack, composed by British duo the Chemical Brothers, which added to the tension and emotion without overshadowing what was happening onscreen. Saoirse Ronan turns in a good performance as the wide-eyed but dangerous Hanna, Eric Bana is suitably badass despite not having too much to do, and Cate Blanchett is about as creepy as I've seen her since that one scene in The Fellowship of the Rings. Also, I'm pretty sure her character is a post-op transexual, but Julia doesn't agree with me (and I can't give too many details to back up my claim without ruining large chunks of the movie).

So yeah: interesting concept, good cast, and fun violence. It's worth seeing, I'd say, despite its flaws--but honestly, the lingering question in my head at the end of the movie is who would win in a badass-but-crazy-girl-fight between Hanna and River Tam.

Thoughts, anyone?