Hanna (2011)

Tags

Action, Cate Blanchett, Drama, Eric Bana, Hanna, Jessica Barden, Movie, Olivia Williams, Saoirse Ronan, Tom Hollander

they grow up so fast...

PG-13

Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jessica Barden

Sebastian:  So, Hanna, is your mom and dad still together?
Hanna:  My mother is dead.
Sophie:  Niiiice one dad.
Sebastian:  I’m sorry to hear that.  I lost my mom when I was very young, so…
Hanna:  It’s alright, it happened a long time ago.
Rachel:  Hanna…what did your mom die of?
Hanna:  Three bullets.

Hanna (Ronan) is a 16 year old girl who has been secluded in the forest for most of her life and trained by her father (Bana) to be a deadly, and very intelligent, assassin.  She believes she is ready to leave seclusion and face the dangers that await her.  Dangers in the form of Marissa (Blanchett), an agent who has a past association with Hanna’s father.  Once she’s out in the world, Hanna starts to discover all kinds of new things and new people, but there’s not much time to enjoy it when you’re being pursued by ruthless special agents…

First of all, how was Joss Whedon not involved in this?  A teenage girl beating people up all over the place?  That’s, like…his thing!

Secondly, I really wanted to like this one more than I did.

Not that I disliked it.  It’s just…it was so good at times that the lesser aspects of it really stood out.

Some of the character motivations weren’t very strong.  For instance, why was Marissa so hell bent on killing everybody and everything in her way just to get to Hanna?  Why such an attachment?  Cate Blanchett was definitely good and creepy as the villain, but I never really felt like I knew here character very well.  Same with Eric Bana as…Erik, Hanna’s sorta dad.  His history is a bit of a mystery too.  There are some explanations, to be sure, but those are more about events rather than emotions and motivations.  The movie tells us there are emotions there, but doesn’t really show all of them.

I guess all of that would be okay if it didn’t leave the ending of the movie feeling so emotionally hollow.  Of course it ends with a series of chases, even culminating at a sort of abandoned carnival type place (one of multiple movie cliches featured in this one).  There’s no real emotional resolution, and when the title popped up again at the end (kind of out of the blue like in INSIDIOUS), I was left thinking, “…that’s it?”  Okay, there’s a pile of corpses, but…so what?

Like I said, though, there are good parts.  The performances are all top notch, especially Saoirse Ronan as Hanna.  She’s sort of a more realistic version of Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass.  The script may occasionally drag her out of character, but her performance is always good.  It’s a physically demanding role, and she seems up to the challenge.

Thankfully, Cate Blanchett isn’t as over the top as she was in the recent Indiana Jones disaster.  She’s just as ruthless, but much more grounded in reality.  Though, not above threatening little children.

Stylistically, the movie is kinetic without venturing into Tony Scott territory, thankfully.  Plus, it’s not afraid to slow down for some touching, quiet moments, like when Hanna befriends the daughter in the family she latches onto as she flees her pursuers.  There are some good moments spent with that family.

All in all, I felt like a good premise and a quality first 2/3 of a movie were a little wasted on an ending that just fizzles out.  I would have liked to have seen more communication and resolution between the characters rather than just another typical chase/shoot-out.

Is it that hard to write an ending to a movie?  Maybe I should try it some time…

HANNA!

Trying to scientifically manipulate humans into perfect killing machines never ends well…

10 – 1.5 for the lackluster ending – 1 for a few moments, mostly regarding Hanna’s character, that didn’t really make sense = 7.5

The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)

Tags

Arliss Howard, Drama, Eric Bana, Hailey McCann, Movie, Rachel McAdams, Romance, Ron Livingston, Science Fiction, The Time Traveler's Wife

I can't believe they named the movie after her...I'm the one doing all the time traveling here...

PG-13

Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard, Hailey McCann

Clare: Seems that you go back to the same places a lot.
Henry: It’s like gravity…big events pull you in.
Clare: I was a big event.
Henry: So it would seem.

Henry (Bana) is born with a strange genetic condition that causes him to jump around in time without any control over where or when he goes.  Clare is the girl who he has been visiting since she was little.

This is a weepy, sappy, saccharine sort of movie, but I must admit that I kind of liked it.  Both McAdams and Bana (though he’s a little dull) are likable actors playing likable characters.  They have a charming little romance going on, and it was good to see that it didn’t just disintegrate into a bunch of anger and arguing.  There’s some of that, but just a realistic amount, not the over-dramatic movie amount that we would usually get.

The problem with the movie is that every moment has too much emotion and importance placed on it.  There’s almost constant music playing with the intention of creating heavy drama.  When every scene is played like this, it starts to just feel all washed out.  It reminded me of how in the Bourne Identity movies there’s so much action that it all starts to cancel itself out.  Even the internet research scenes in those movies are filmed with shaky cameras and feature intense music.  We need some calm, normal moments so that the action, or in this case, dramatic moments really stand out more.

There are a few confusing moments as far as the time line goes, but that’s true of any movie that delves into the time travel genre.  It’s just unavoidable.

Those issues aside, I found it to be a fairly interesting and enjoyable tale.  It’s sort of a more realistic view of what it would be like to be an X-Man.  Instead a genetic mutation giving you the power to warp through walls or turn invisible, you get stuck jumping through time uncontrollably, with no clothes, wishing you could just stay home with your wife and daughter.

Oh, and why is Arliss Howard playing Eric Bana’s father?  That just didn’t work…

Genetic mutations do not always result in awesome superpowers.

10 – 2.5 for being overly dramatic, sappy, earnest – .5 for the confusing, possibly faulty time line issues = 7.0