Hanna | Review

Joe Wright is probably the best young(ish) filmmaker out there who has yet to actually make a successful film. With an actual storyline of this film that barely adds up to a Hitchcockian McGuffin, despite an anorexic plotline, Hanna is easily his best work. Using the plot simply to string together a rotation of his long and elaborate set pieces with the crazy character based scenes coming out of an FX or Showtime television show, this absolutely works because the set pieces are literally like an amusement park ride. Not meant to be dissected as some kind of allegorical thriller, simply put, Hanna is an exciting visual extravaganza.

Officially, Hanna is the story of a former CIA operative coming out of hiding with his all too important titular daughter and the chase that ensues. None of the story details matter though, they’re just an excuse to get us to the action. Hanna is all about geometry. The clearest display of this is during an escape scene in an underground government lair beneath the desert. Hanna parkours and kung fus her way through stunt doubles aplenty throughout a sewer-like system of gigantic tunnels somewhere between German Expressionism, Dada, Bauhaus, Frank Lloyd Wright and Independence Day. No real explanation is given for why the routine questioning of a 13ish year old girl is done in such a complicated facility, nor why it would exist to begin with.

That’s Hanna though, and the combination of technical mastery of the camera, superb cutting and a kick ass score make us not care abut these things. Wright often speaks of how he rips the composition of many of his shots from classic paintings. This is definitely an example of that, where influences from Minimalism are clear. The way he uses lines in the frame and angular connotations will make film school professors giddy. Wright uses the contrast of symmetry with asymmetry masterfully. Every shot is clearly composed with insane detail. None of it means anything, apart from creating an ominous atmosphere around her, but it’s visual candy.

Later, much of act three takes place in a defunct amusement park based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales with some other influences thrown in there with just as little explanation. Credit goes to the location scout on this one, for they just shot it at Germany’s Spree Park, a closed park with a history that goes quite well with it’s eerie presence in the film. Form over function or not, this location saves the film from a third act that would otherwise have been remembered for its very disappointing denouement and a pointless bracketed ending.

The film is full of Wright trademarks in more than just the casting. Thankfully Wright moved forward with Saoirse Ronan and left Keira Knightley to go be pretty somewhere, for we buy Ronan here much more than anyone did Knightley in King Arthur. This was not an age thing. This was a conscious choice. Knightley could easily have played the title role. Thankfully they went with Ronan though.

We get elaborate sets and long tracking shots. Seamus McGarvey, Wright’s longtime cinematographer, is gone though, replaced by Alwin Kuchler. Kuchler is easily up to the task, as the Bana’s subway chase scene (straight out of Diva) makes up for its lack of production design with the added degree of difficulty with the blocking of a fight scene. So Kuchler, don’t worry, your steadicam is just as good as the other guys steadicam.

The borderline surrealist characters in Hanna are reminiscent of those in Wright’s The Soloist. They work here much better, but are still quite tongue-in-cheek. The best, and most out there, is Tom Hollander’s Issacs. Hollander bleaches his hair blonde and dons exclusively neon colored running suits. We also know he’s a psychopath because he whistles while he kills people. Because that is what psychopaths in movies do. Hollander is a star. Cate Blanchett is wasted though, in a role that Tilda Swinton did already and better in Michael Clayton. Eric Bana continues to exist, but no more need be said in that regard. Olivia Williams and Jessica Barden play a mother and daughter with more believable yet still interesting dynamics who Hanna encounters in the road movie section of the film. We’re just going to leave the accents alone, for ink need not be wasted criticizing this anymore, it’s a moviemaking tradition for big actors to go in and out of obscure “authentic” dialects. Just so you know though, Blanchett plays Southern US, Bana is Scandanavian. Be prepared.

Along with McGarvey, longtime composing partner Dario Marinelli is gone as well. This is surprising, as along with the cinematography, the score was the best part of Atonement. This departure is quickly understandable though, as the best part of Hanna is also the music, this time done by The Chemical Brothers. So if you’re going to ditch the composer of all of your films, who better to do it for? The title track stands on its own as a great Chemical Brothers single.

Pride & Prejudice was surprisingly much better than other period pieces based on those romance novels, but it was still pretty standard. The hype from that one came mainly from it being the debut of such a young filmmaker. Atonement contained some brilliance and technical mastery, but overall was a snoozer. The Soloist was melodramatic waste with some over-the-top characterizations. Hanna though seems like the exact movie Joe Wright really wanted to make all this time though.

Hanna is not a film you think too deeply about the characters or the story. It’s all about the visuals. In that regard, in a way, it’s a masterpiece. Technically, it could be one of the best music videos ever made. The production design with those sets is classic. Wright is similar to Michel Gondry. They have imagination to spare and are visual dynamos, but they need to partner with someone like Charlie Kaufman to create a complete film. It’s a visual medium, but story does matter!

Rating 3 stars