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Just as the character of Hanna, the film itself is a question wrapped in a conundrum of interpretation and mystery. It’s wonderful, fascinating and brilliant in a way that hopefully even the lowest common denominator can enjoy. It’s a layered action film with substance beyond the screen leaving you in wonderment days after seeing it. Hanna is a young girl who is ready to grow up but she doesn’t even know what that means. Brought up in an isolated forest of Finland with just her father and mother nature, there’s something special about Hanna. She’s trained for a mission that isn’t her own but that she’ll undertake for the love of her father. Go see this movie.


When I say trained, I mean trained to be a bad ass. Hand to hand combat, pinpoint gun shooting and archery, smarts in both knowledge and language, survival skills, escapist skills, any skill, every skill…she’s a perfect little soldier. In the beginning of the film, you’re left in the dark to who she is, who her father is, or why she’s going through this regiment. But that’s ok, because Hanna doesn’t know either and you learn alongside her as the movie progresses. She goes on a journey which can be compared to that of a teenager leaving the parents’ nest for the first time to explore the world. Except on Hanna’s journey, she’s tasked to kill Marissa, a government agent. She’s a trained assassin. She’s 16 years old. She’s awesome.

You get tidbits of information here and there allowing you to piece together the mysteries of Hanna and really empathize with what she must be going through as she figures out what’s going on in her life. There are a lot less action scenes than you may think but they pop off the screen and are well choreographed. The movie is visually stunning including the fight sequences and locations across Europe. There are spurts of excitement coupled with waiting and anticipation. I actually preferred the down scenes where you learn more of the back story and can unravel more meaning from the story.

The imagery and symbolism of the movie are off the charts. I can’t wait to watch it again and see what I missed. There are actually a few story lines concurrently running through the film and I liked how they were spaced out allowing the audience to digest one scene while going into another. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) and her father, Erik (Eric Bana), split rather early in the film so you get to follow each of them as well as their target: Marissa (Cate Blanchett). The acting by all three of these stars as well as the supporting cast is superb. Saoirse definitely shines as the lead but every character is paramount and not a single one is wasted on screen. Sophie (Jessica Barden), Hanna’s British friend is hilarious in the movie and watching her grow up alongside Hanna in their similar but very different coming of age stories was just so interesting to me.

Music plays a huge part in the movie and is a character itself. If you pay close attention, you can see how the film tells more than just the story of Hanna but also the history of civilisation and society through music. In the forest, Hanna doesn’t have access to music so she’s never heard it but yearns for it (I believe it’s the real reason she decides to leave). Each time she gets to hear a piece of emotion, it’s another huge step in her life. For example, the first time she hears music, she gets new clothes and a new look. I’ll let you discover the rest. The score is done by the Chemical Brothers who are just spectacular. You will definitely be bouncing your head to the music in a few of the scenes. The way the music and action match up are brilliant.

Hanna is not what you think and it’s going to surprise/confuse a lot of people. However, I think no matter what you think going into the film, you’re going to come out of it with a brand new appreciation for it. This is one of those movies that you want to see again right after you finish watching it. There’s so many things going on at once that you’ll discover something new with each viewing but at the same time, it is presented in such a way that you get the main messages on the first go. I hope the movie does well because director Joe Wright and lead Saoirse Ronan are already discussing ideas for a sequel! Learn more about that and so much more in our summary of a Q&A we had after our screening below.






Q&A with Director Joe Wright and Hanna star Saoirse Ronan Summarized


Joe Wright has never done action before. The closest he says he has been were the dancing scenes in Pride & Prejudice so he decided to take what he knew and shot the action scenes as if they were dance sequences.


In regards to the Chemical Brothers, Wright worked very close with them throughout the process. He had known them for a long time and believes he attended their 1st London gig and became a groupie ever since. He’s been waiting to make a film with them for a long time but his previous films had to have classical music so when this project came up, it was a bit of a no brainer. They did some music prior to filming including the fairy tale strip club scene, Isaacs’ whistling, and the container scene. They actually used that music while filming the container scene so the actors could get a rhythm going.

An audience member asked about Wright’s use of long takes/one shot scenes. He noted one film called Russian Ark that was shot entirely in one shot as inspiration. And actually, the steady cam operator of that film worked with him on this movie so he was very excited. He went on to say that it’s very difficult to deconstruct a scene to film many angles and sometimes he gets overwhelmed. With this movie, he kind of gambled on every shot even though he’s not a gambler. Instead of taking 3 days to shoot a scene like Eric’s fight underground, he just did it in 1 day with one long shot. He enjoys these kind of shots theatrically as well and they remind him of home videos so from that point of view, they are quite real.


Joe Wright told the audience how he used music in Hanna on many different levels…even though his aspirations may have not come out as he intended, they’re there. He noted the history of civilization through music. Hanna first hears a call to prayer in Morocco and then the rhythms of Flamenco to music across Europe and then finally the terrifying nutcracker. Music was such an important portion of this film, he actually met and fell in love with an Indian musician who eventually became his wife. He said he never takes photographs when making a film, but let’s the music be more of an influence.

Interestingly, Wright talked about a few alternative scenes that he thought of and some he filmed. I won’t describe these in detail as they would kind of spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet but they involve the British family and ending of the entire film. He said that they might be included as special features on the DVD. There might possibly even be an unrated version since the studio pulled back on some things he wanted to do. They wanted to make the movie “happier.” On the PG-13 rating, Wright’s natural instinct was to make Hanna darker but felt like the movie had something to say to younger kids. She’s an interesting role model and there’s no sexual exploitation unlike some movies out there right now.


Joe Wright went on a small tangent on the background of the film. He said the base of the story came from the change of administration in America. The “program” in the movie was terminated because the great American people voted in a new President with some decency where you don’t just take people from their house and lock them up in jail in Cuba or manufacture kid soldiers. Not saying that Bush did that. Marissa comes from an old administration and she must clean house.


An audience member asked Saoirse what character influenced her for Hanna. She replied, “None.” There is no character like Hanna and she’s glad it is that way. She’s a misfit and had to wipe her mind of anything she’s ever been through to get into the mindset of Hanna. She has fresh pure eyes. As an inspiring character in general, though, Saoirse talked about The Bride from Kill Bill because she fought for love and family and that’s what Hanna is on – a mission of love for her father.

Saoirse did all of her fight sequences and many of the action scenes but couldn’t do them all because insurance wouldn’t cover it. There was one instance in the container scene where her mother was on set and this random wind storm came out of nowhere and almost blew Saoirse off the container. She said she was like 3 or 4 containers up! An audience member asked Saoirse what her favorite scene was and she answered that the scene where she didn’t actually have to do anything was her favorite. They got to sit back and watch these beautiful Flamenco dancers perform for us for hours. They had such passion and fire. Joe Wright noted that they required one case of rum, one case of whiskey and went on for 3 hours.


One interesting tidbit I want to throw in is that Jessica Barden who plays Hanna’s British friend Sophie is apparently actually like her character in real life. She doesn’t stop talking and just goes on and on. Wright loved that and let her ad lib in the film which turned into one of his favorite scenes as she described lipstick (listen for it ). Also, she actually does have a fungal toe infection and didn’t stop talking about it on set which is why they included it in the film. She’s no doubt an interesting character in Hanna and an amazing juxtaposition herself.


At the end of the Q&A, Wright and Saoirse were asked about a sequel. They said they were actually discussing it earlier today and hope the studio will give them more money to make it because they love the character so much. They don’t know what the story would be however and jokingly said it might be Hanna vs America. “I quite like the idea of Hanna in Space.” They’re just going to take her to crazy places so they can film there. Hell, I’d watch Hanna wherever she goes.