'Hanna' directed by Joe Wright.

Produced by: Leslie Holleran, Marty Adelstein and Scott Nemes.

Written by: David Farr and Seth Lochhead.

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng and Cate Blanchett.

Music by: The Chemical Brothers.

Year of release: 2011.

Run time: 111 Minutes.

Budget: $30 Million.

Gross revenue: $50, 885, 118.

So, I realise that the major countries have had Hanna playing in cinemas for about a month now, but it still hasn't been released in Australia. Just another example of the way Australia is getting screwed in the film department. I guess I could have waited until it is released here on the 28^th of June, but I had the opportunity to catch Hanna at a private screening the other day. And by private screening, I mean a mate of mine downloaded a decent enough rip of it, and we watched it in my lounge room only after we moved my brother's 42 inch flatscreen downstairs.

The trailer for this movie got me pretty excited when I watched it a few months back. The movie is about a teenage girl, the eponymous Hanna, who lives in secluded German forest land with her father played by Eric Bana, who has devoted his life to training Hanna how to be a ruthless killer. It's not for nothing though, she has a target: The mysterious Marissa Wiegler, played by Cate Blanchett. The moment that hooked me in the trailer was when we see the young Hanna break the neck of a CIA agent impersonating Cate Blanchett. Crazy teenage girl that has been taught since birth to be a cold-blooded killer? Count me in. I guess it's sad to say that I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I thought I would.

My first problem is with the way the plot unfolds; everything is shrouded in mystery. I'm not against this at all (The X-Files was my favourite television show), but the way it is handled in Hanna is a little bit shit. In the very beginning of the movie, we don't really know what motivates any of the characters, and when the motivation is revealed in the second (or is it third?) act, it's just kind of too sci-fi-but-not-quite for me. I won't go into it, less I spoil it for some poor Australian out there who has a major jones to see the flick. However, you definitely get the sense that the first draft of the screenplay might have had a lot more exposition regarding why Hanna is in the situation she is in, but the director, who helmed Pride and Prejudice and Atonement before this, thought all the sci-fi stuff was a bit silly. Either that or the writer himself, one Seth Lochead, really struggled to shit or get off the pot regarding whether or not this was going to be a fanciful trip into speculative fiction or a serious piece questioning the nature of Darwinian survival.

The last sentence of that paragraph provides a nice segue way into an analysis of the thematic content of the film (my HSC students would be proud). Basically it's a coming-of-age story about a girl that has grown up sheltered from human contact. So in between the arse kicking (which was rather scant, I thought), we get a lot of dialogue about friendship and learning to be an independent adult. In times like these, the movie has high school English syllabus written all over, and not in good way. It's all very cliché, and none of the actors provide any of the genuine emotional depth that might lift the film out of cliche. It's almost as if they are all just going through the motions. You get the sense that there might have been some sequences that were deleted that might improve this, but overall each performance is very muted. The only real commendable performance is by Eric Bana, who brings significant intensity to the fight scenes. Cate Blanchett is under utilised here, and the lead, Saoirse Ronan, carries the film well without giving us any scenes where she really takes off.

Most of the fight scenes are shockingly shot. The film does that thing where it zooms right in during the martial arts sequences so you don't get to see much of the action. The Bourne movies did this, but managed to counteract it with solid character development, which is lacking in Hanna. Also the editing in Hanna is very choppy. It's cut to a soundtrack performed by The Chemical Brothers, and apparently that's supposed to be cool, but scenes of Hanna escaping a secret underground facility as strobe lights pop all around her leave us confused and a little disorientated. I guess this reflects Hanna's own personal torment, and I'm sure if you mentioned this in a HSC essay, you'd get great marks, but it's just not that enjoyable I'm afraid.

Ultimately, I left Hanna with a feeling of big fat meh! I guess I was really excited to see the movie, and hyped it up too much as a result. Let this be a lesson to you kids; don't get excited about anything, because it won't ever live up to your expectations. Unless it's directed by Quentin Tarantino of course.

Three stars: