Hanna (2011) - confessions of a teenage killing machine

directed by Joe Wright / starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander

I'd been waiting for Hanna since the first trailer I saw. Joe Wright is the director of one of my ultimate favourite films (Atonement), and since that film Saoirse Ronan has definitely been one to keep an eye on. Cate Blanchett is always worth buying a film ticket, and don't we just all love teenage assassins! Add in a rare chance to see your home country in a Hollywood film, and you got yourself a pretty good reason for a trip to cinema.

Hanna is a film difficult to caterorize. There's a bit of a mystery film, an action flick, a road movie and a coming-of-age story. I liked the coming-of-age acpect of it the most. Not surprisingly, knowing me and my preferences. Maybe the script was not the most imaginative, surpriring, skillfully structed one, but the action was nice. And visually the movie was very interesting. Also, great music. And I like movies in which they speak many different languages. I kept expecting to hear Finnish, shame I didn't!

It's cool that they actually came to shoot in Finland; not in Canada or even Norway or anything. Lapland looked pretty cool. And not just in the sense of "cold". (Poor highly-paid Hollywood actors, though.) It was cool to see Finland through "Hollywood's eyes", and notice it didn't look very different from what it really is, or how it's potrayed in domestic films. I'll say it once more: cool.

Saoirse Ronan is such an interesting actress! Just that stare alone is so compelling, with those light eye brows and bright blue eyes. Plus I always associate that stare with the scene in Atonement where Briony is looking out of the window while Robbie is being taken away and she just doesn't blink. Awesome. That girl has one bright future ahead of her.

Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana do their roles with a certain professional-like routine. They're both very good but not too good, because the film is about Hanna and Ronan is the star. Tom Hollander is as wonderfully disgusting as ever. It's a gift, really, to be able to be that slimy and repulsive. And still awesome. That hydrogen peroxide hair was particularly unappealing. Hope he shot his part quite quickly, and didn't have to hang around looking so unattractive for too long. Haha.

The British teenage girl was a real highlight of the whole movie. Really, she was freaking hilarious. Give her an award or something!

 So, Hanna was a good film. Not mind-blowing in any way, but interesting and entertaining enough. The talented cast and the visual look (and one pretty competent comic relief character) carry it pretty far, and there's necessarily no fundamental need for blowing minds.

"You didn't prepare me for this."

Yo ho, a pirate's life for me (again)

You know it hasn't been long enough since your last viewing of a film, when you all the time feel like reciting the characters' lines with them as they speak, and you know to look forward to every single witty/cheesy one-liner and funny gesture. You also know that if that's the case, you've probably seen the film one (or two or three) too many times. In addition, since you still laugh at pretty much every single one of those witty/cheesy one-liners and funny gestures, you know there's a reason why you once again decided to spend numerous precious hours of your day following the same old story all over again. Finally, when you watch the said film for the hundredth time and find yourself noticing new things and understanding some gags you never did before, you know that either a) the movie is amazingly profound and multi-layered, or b) you're just a bit slow. (In this particular case, I'd put my money with option b.)

So, in other words... It was time to refresh some memories and dive into some sweet nostalgia, as yesterday me and a friend held another movie marathon. I know what you're probably thinking; The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is a much too recent thing to feel nostalgic about. Oh well. I sometimes feel nostalgic about yesterday or for what happened at breakfast that day. So this is like ancient history for me, if you know what I mean. The third film came out 2007, and that's like WAY back. I mean, I was under-aged back then! ... Or was I? Hold on. Oh, I don't know, that's way too much mathematics for a humanist. (You can blame everything on that, you know? It's quite wonderful, really.)

EDIT // After much contemplating, I came to the conclusion that I was indeed NOT under-aged in 2007. Still, it was a pretty long time ago, so indulge me and grand be my nostalgia, if you please.

Seems like I still wasn't quite able to reach the point. PotC movies were a huge thing for me back in the dark Middle Ages (also knows as some four to eight years ago). I don't know if I've ever left a cinema so utterly delighted as I did after the first film. Later on, I've been expecting myself to outgrow the whole pirate thing, but all I have to do is pop on a DVD and it's clear that the charm is still there, and probably not going anywhere anytime soon.
 

The movies' charm lies in the adventure, in the fun and engaging characters, the humour and the lack of seriousness. Even if it gets a bit darker once in a while, the Disney behind it all ensures that the gloom won't last too long. I mean, no one really believed that Jack actually died in the end of DMC, because that would've been way too harsh, and basically the stupidest thing one could imagine to be doing to a character like that at that point. So we once again have to thank Disney for bringing us guaranteed happy endings, time after time, allowing us to enter and exit cinemas with gleeful smiles on our faces and a spring in our step! (Okay, I'm determinedly aborting the surge of Disney praise, before I get really going and it's too late to stop me.)

The general opinion basically is that the first film is good (it's on IMDb's Top 250, after all!), and the sequels are bad (though now that I checked, they aren't too poorly rated on IMDb, either). And yes, admittingly, CotBP definitely has the most coherent storyline, and it doesn't resort to ridiculous over-the-top absurdities as often as the sequels. (It's tough, you know? Having to try and top the grandness and inventiveness of the previous action scenes and storylines, because generally everyone believes it's better only if it's bigger. That's when the multiple Jacks and twenty-minute wheel-mill fights and overgrown roaring ladies step in... Anyway.)

As confusing as the sequels might occasionally be (like yesterday, during AWE, we were distracted for about ten minutes, talking about something else, and when returning our attention to the film, we felt completely lost, despite the numerous rewatches before. I mean... "How did she end up in there? Where is he at the moment? Whose side is he on right now? What's his hidden agenda this time, or does he have one?" It's quite puzzling, and not necessarily in a good way...), I still find myself enjoying them over and over again. At least the constant coat-turning and switching of sides keeps the characters somewhat interesting and unpredictable.

Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the greatest and most legendary characters created in the 00's, and that's pretty much all I need to say about that. I'm pretty sure old Johnny sealed his place in movie history the day he first pulled the costume and the eyeliner on and took his first staggering step as the wonderfully eccentric, ridiculously charming, geniously witty and thoroughly lovable pirate captain. Bless him.

In this particular rewatch my favourite character number two ended up being Tom Hollander's amazingly slimy and placidly douchebag-ish Lord Beckett, the vilain of the sequels (or one of them). The character is not one of those utterly horrible vilains, who you just love to hate. Though he can be pretty disgusting at times, in some twisted way I always end up feeling sorry for him. Maybe it's his death scene and that puzzled, beaten, totally dumnfounded look on his poor little face. Or maybe I feel for the actor for always having to play the slimy douchebag? Not that I'm complaining and nor should he; he does it ruddy well.

Other favourite is of course Geoffrey Rush and his varyingly evil Barbossa. I'm so much looking forward to seeing the character again soon, in slightly different circles... Also Jack Davenport's James 'Turncoat' Norrington always wins my sympathies in the end. Tia Dalma was cool before the third film watered down the whole character. Bill Nighy plays the infamous Davy Jones outstandingly behind all those (freaking impressively done) CGI tentacles.

And yeah yeah, of course I have to say something about the young and beutiful pair of super movie stars. Because yes, I like them, too. Orlando maybe looks confused more often than he should but he does action (and kissing!) very well. And Keira... What can I say, I like Keira. She does well in holding her head high among all those scruffy, grumpy men. And that speech of hers in AWE always guarantees some goosebumps, at least for me.

The marathon was a piece of cake really, or at least should've been. We were done in about seven and a half hours, and that should be nothing compared to the previous Star Wars and LotR Extended Edition marathons I've sat through. However, I was dangerously close to falling a sleep somewhere in the middle of Dead Man's Chest, and that's just not right. Am I getting old or what? (Well, clearly... It can be proved by the fact that Curse of the Black Pearl came out 2003, which is now eight years ago. Holy.......)

Anyway. The fourth instalment will reach the cinemas in just a few weeks, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I am more than excited about the comeback of Captain Jack and company (mostly just Jack, though). Bring it on, I'm so very ready.

Finally... Because the PotC films have some of the most hilarious blooper reels ever. Here we go, one more time. You know it never gets old.