While original ideas are few and far between in Hollywood these days, once in awhile an homage is plenty fine by me. Quentin Tarantino has been doing the genre wonders for years, so why not let someone else put on their game face? And while Joe Wright may not be the first person that comes to mind for traveling in QT’s footprints (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice and The Soloist), Wright assuredly marches in unleashing his own brand of female empowerment with Hanna.
Armed with one of the best casts this side of an art house film (Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng), it’s the perfect casting of almost 17-year-old Saoirse Ronan that’s Wright’s true coup de grace. After directing her to her first Oscar nomination back in 2007 in Atonement, she proves herself a true force to be reckoned with. While this role may not bring about her second nomination, it will definitely put her in a well deserved limelight. For further proof of just how well a young actress can carry a film, just watch her in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Stucci was far from the best thing about that production.
In Hanna, we are immediately introduced to our title character in the Alaskan tundra’s where she silently tracks, kills, and guts a caribou all by her lonesome. A man sneaks up behind her informing her, "You're dead — I've killed you," and a fight ensues. It’s not a real fight per se because we learn that this man is Hanna’s father, Erik Heller (Bana). Having lived in the wilderness their entire life, Hanna has never heard music but can speak at least 4 languages. She keeps telling her father that she yearns for more and that this life isn’t enough.
One morning, Eric gives Hanna a transponder and tells her that with the flip of a switch it will inform “her” of their location. After Eric takes off to hunt for food he returns home to find the beacon flashing and learns that his little girl has finally grown up. Now “her,” Marissa Wiegler (Blanchet), is put on the case having a close history with Erik from the past and now we find out that he is an MIA government agent who’s been AWOL for 16 years. We also learn that Marissa is who killed Hanna’s mother when she was a baby and is the reason they’ve been in hiding her entire life.
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