UK Release: 6th May 2011
Watched on DVD: Saturday 17th March 2012
Rating: 12A
Genre: Action, Crime, Mystery
Runtime: 1hr 51mins
Tagline: Young. Sweet. Innocent. Deadly.
IMDb Plot Synopsis: Hanna (Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her 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 while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.
My Review: There’s not much to say about Hanna other than this: it is incredible. I’ve been itching to see this film ever since I first heard about it a few years ago when it was in production. The concept was really interesting and once I’d seen the poster and trailer I could tell that this was something fresh and exciting which I had to see. However it wasn’t until a good friend of mine offered to lend the DVD to me that I finally got a chance to watch it! And I wish I’d got my hands on it sooner as - while it was worth the wait - I’ve been missing out!
It has to be one of the most invigorating films I’ve ever seen, leaving me full of energy and adrenaline after, literally, sitting on the edge of the sofa the entire length of the film. My heart was in my mouth and it was so thrilling it gave me goosebumps! But it wasn’t just the action and suspense that I loved about it was also intelligent and funny too. It was subtle and not at all patronising and the kind of film that you have to be very awake and aware of what’s going on, while willing to just go with the flow.
And so I think you can tell how much I loved it and so there’s no need to talk about how brilliant the acting, sets, locations etc was because they were all top notch. Yet I can’t finish this review without mentioning one aspect of production that just made the film work as well as it did - the soundtrack. The Chemical Brothers prove that their music can work effortlessly as a films backbone and without them I geniunely think the film wouldn’t of had as much of the impact that it did; my brother loved it so much he’s talking about buying it!
All in all, I can’t recommend this film enough - just make sure you have the volume turned up and your phone off, as you won’t want to miss a second of it!
Score: 9.5/10
Thank you for the great review of Hanna. I was surfing DISHOnline.com with one of my DISH colleagues looking for something interesting to watch when we came across Hanna. It was a great film. The pacing of the film was very energetic and I found the action to be very well done. I completely agree with you about the soundtrack, I have heard the Chemical Brothers on other soundtracks and they are usually kind of distracting, but with Hanna they made a perfect fit and accented the film very well.
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