Hanna

Over the years there have been a number of incidences in cinemas where films have been shown with the reels in the wrong order. The joke being that most times the audience has left the theatre unaware of the mix-up thinking what they had just watched was the director’s intended vision. A similar thing happened when I went to see Joe Wright’s new film Hanna. About 40 minutes into the film the screen went blank for a minute and all we had was the audio. When the picture returned it was with a garish yellow hue. The fact that this didn’t seem unusual is a reflection of Wright’s direction of the first part of the film. (In reality the projector had over heated and eventually broke down). So a few days later I returned to the cinema to watch the film again in which 16 year old Hanna (Saoirse Ronan), after being raised in the wilderness by her father (Eric Bana) to be the ultimate assassin, is sent off to the mainland on a mission. To say too much more would give the game away, but not everything is as clear as it seems, especially when CIA officer Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) becomes involved. So returning back to my story at the start, is this really Joe Wright behind this? It appears he wants to prove a point that he is more than just a steady hand behind the camera as he employs all sorts of tricks this time round including twirling camera shots, jump cuts and odd angles. However, these things don’t appear to come naturally to Wright, and it’s the cinematic equivalent of watching the awkward fumblings of a teenage boy. The whole film is a case of style over substance and even another great tracking shot (following on from Wright’s memorable one in Atonement) that follows Bana from a station down into a subway into a fight with a number of goons starts off as breathtaking, but quickly dissolves into a ballet of awkward and stiff choreography. This is also meant to be a thriller, but it’s too slow and disjointed and not helped by a number of dodgy performances (Blanchet: Pantomime, Ronan: Just not believable) including Tom Hollander hamming it up in outrageous fashion as a flamboyant heavy. Throw in an intrusive and mis-placed Chemical Brother’s soundtrack and you have a film that looks great on paper, but has gone wrong in the execution.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Any real intrigue is lost amongst some over the top direction. You’ll have stopped caring long before the down beat conclusion. Rating: 5/10.