Hanna
I’ve been following Saoirse Ronan for several years, admiring her performances as Briony Tallis (in Joe Wright’s adaptation of Ian McEwan’s book Atonement), Lina Mayfleet (in Gil Kenan’s City of Ember), and Susie Salmon (in Peter Jackson’s most recent work converting Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones, into a motion picture). With a new movie coming out, The Way Back, this sixteen year old actress seems to be on a roll. However, it is Saoirse’s latest upcoming project that has captured my attention.
I’m a huge fan of action spy thrillers such as the Mission Impossible Trilogy and almost every James Bond film. Interestingly enough, as the years have gone by and more knowledge of intelligence agencies has reached the public, recent films in the spy genre have become more realistic (examples including Munich (2005) and the movies composing the Bourne series featuring Matt Damon).
Our young Irish actress has taken an extremely ambitious step. Saoirse Ronan is playing the lead role (alongside Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett) in Joe Wright’s latest film Hanna. As of late, young hit-girls seem to be gaining ground lately with recent success of Yutaka Aida’s series Gunslinger Girl, the popularity of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with The Dragoon Tattoo, and the comic-turned-movie Kick-Ass.
The official synopsis states the film focuses on a 14 year old girl, Hanna. Strangely enough, she has the stamina, strength, mental capacity, and quick thinking nature of a hit man; all of this instilled in her by her father, an ex-CIA operative, Erik Heller, played by Eric Bana.
Surviving in the wilderness of Finland, it’s more than obvious that her training was designed deliberately to make her into the perfect assassin. Sent on a mission across Europe by her father, Hanna must evade agents sent after her by another intelligence officer (Marissa Wiegler, portrayed by Cate Blanchett) with secrets all her own.
However, as she nears her final objective, Hanna discovers unexpected revelations about herself as well as to her own humanity. Ronan states: “She's this young girl who has basically been trained her whole life by her father to kill," she comments. "It should be good fun and I'm training for it in martial arts. It's tough but I really like it and enjoy it. I do two hours in the gym and then I do about two hours of martial arts. I wouldn't call it an action movie. It's a movie that has a lot of action in it. It goes quite deep as to where Hanna comes from and what she's all about. To me, it doesn't seem like your typical action film or action hero. She's a very interesting character and I think she's going to be very interesting to play."
One thing I did catch was Ronan’s bright, innocent looking eyes. How often would anyone suspect a young, beautiful teenage girl to be an assassin? (And with those eyes? Pssh, I don’t think many people would stand a chance.)
Focus Features is advertising the film to be more along the lines of Jason Bourne style action relating to La Femme Nikita unlike the crazed little-girl-kills-grown-men thrill performed by Chloe Moretz. The original script was written by Seth Lochhead and co-written by David Farr, and Joe Penhall with a few notes made by Wright.
Since the film is being directed by Joe Wright, I’m not expecting it to be of a comedic style like Kick-Ass. His style (seen in Atonement and Pride and Prejudice) focuses on well-played drama. Hanna features a great cast and wonderful director. With that in mind, I’m looking for a very well-done film.
Hanna’s premise looks strong and promising. I can’t help but say I’m really looking forward to it!
The release date has been set for April 8, 2011.
