Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Hanna (Brodie)

Young girl raised in the forest by a CIA agent meets the world for the first time.

This one left me a little flat. It was entertaining enough but could've been more.

Intriguingly, it was a movie about a girl seeking an identity, while the movie itself seemed to have the same problem. Some of this seemed intentional, and I give credit for that parallelism but am disappointed by the execution.

Honestly, the revealing moments, themes, undertones, and camera shots felt like they belonged in a different movie. Considering the significant build-up to Hanna's extraordinary abilities as a super spy, the character perspective resulted in a sporadic and sluggish pace. I applaud the attempt to add depth to an action film, but why establish Hanna as so unique that she becomes difficult to relate to only to attempt a coming of age story?

We start out expecting high-speed excitement, and instead the director and screenwriter tried to give us depth and humanity. And while there were some lovely images of vulnerability and self-discovery, I left the theater feeling like I didn't really understand the motivations of any character. It ended up being the same superficial spy movie as all the rest while desperately trying to be something different.

Hanna was caught between two worlds, two genres, and left me stranded there.

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