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[JaseC]

I imported a physical copy of the soundtrack along with the LE steelbook because it's just that awesome. Speaking of the BD, I was quite disappointed with the special features. I wasn't expecting Peter Jackson-esque levels of attention paid to these auxiliary details - so no ~3-hour documentary chronicling principal photography a la The Lovely Bones (so good) - but I had hoped that "Adapt or Die" would be of more depth than a mere ~13 minutes.

I couldn't put my finger on it but this movie hit all the right buttons with me. Even though it had major issues I was able to look past them as there was just something that resonated with me. I've always been a Bana fan, so maybe that was it. But truly, I have the feeling it's a combination of the cinematography adding to the exotic feel of the movie combined with the awesome soundtrack. Mostly the latter. Seriously this soundtrack is Tron levels of show-stealing. "Devil is in the Details" just stays with you.

When I'm doing something that doesn't require my utmost attention and I let my mind wander, I tend to find myself whistling the tune.

 

[Dali]

Spoiler

I was under the impression Bana's character was fine living in the woods with the girl. It was her choice to go out into the world when she wanted to with the caveat that she would have to take care of this woman, otherwise she'd be hunted for the rest of her life. That just happened to be the plan they came up, could have been anything really.

That's a pretty, chancy, sadistic plan. He knows this woman wants Hanna dead, yet he takes the chance on having her agents come and pick her up. He knows she'll probably kill a couple and yet he remains confident they won't gun her down when they come to get her. It did seem like he was content with living with her, but he knew she would hit the button eventually if her only hope of seeing anything of the outside world while with Bana was in books.

Spoiler

As I said seems like a very chancy, over-complicated, plan considering how easy he made it seem in the movie. This entire issue could have been avoided if they simply hadn't made it seem like she was so easy to take shots at: As though the only chance they would have reasonably had was with Hanna getting captured.

 

[Neuromancer]

I think I may buy the soundtrack to listen to while running. Sogood.gif

That's a pretty, chancy, sadistic plan. He knows this woman wants Hanna dead, yet he takes the chance on having her agents come and pick her up. He knows she'll probably kill a couple and yet he remains confident they won't gun her down when they come to get her. It did seem like he was content with living with her, but he knew she would hit the button eventually.

Spoiler

As I said seems like a very chancy, over-complicated, plan considering how easy he made it seem in the movie. This entire issue could have been avoided if they simply hadn't made it seem like she was so easy to take shots at: As though the only chance they would have reasonably had was with Hanna getting captured.

Yeah I guess, you're not wrong. For some reason though it didn't bother me, the movie needed something to set things off so for that purpose at least it worked.

Spoiler

Also I'd like to know why he had that transponder, what was its original purpose, why did he have it that whole time, and how did the CIA have the ability to listen to it? That part seems weird to me.

 

[Qwomo]

Spoiler

Also I'd like to know why he had that transponder, what was its original purpose, why did he have it that whole time, and how did the CIA have the ability to listen to it? That part seems weird to me.

Spoiler

I just assumed it was the standard "SOS, come pick me up ASAP" signal thing, which he'd kept from his days as an agent.

 

[Tom Penny]

Ending was Ok. Overall the movie was pretty good though.

 

[onlyindreams]

This has the best score of any film released in at least the last 10 years. So good.

 

[Jake.]

just saw it - was way, way better than i expected. great score, too.

Spoiler

I have no complaints about the ending though, sometimes things like that just happen, you get in a fight with someone you care about and you never get the chance to make amends. Harsh, but kind of fresh for an action movie like this.

spot on.

edit: just wiki'd - for the whole film i thought she was 10-12, had no idea she was meant to be 16.

 

[i_am_ben]

I thought this movie was beyond stupid. None of it makes any sense.

 

[moniker]

This film hit some really high highs and some really low lows for me. I enjoyed it all through though.

Did anyone else entertain the possibility that Marissa Wigler was a hermafrodite? There were some clues sprinkled throughout the movie that pointed to her not being totally female...

 

[Trent Strong]

This film hit some really high highs and some really low lows for me. I enjoyed it all through though.

Did anyone else entertain the possibility that Marissa Wigler was a hermafrodite? There were some clues sprinkled throughout the movie that pointed to her not being totally female...

Uhh, no. What gave you that idea? What I'd like to know is: did Hanna have sex with that girl?

 

[ShinobiFist]

The first half was better than the second half. Overall, I enyoed the film. The ost was amazing btw.

 

[985boi]

This film hit some really high highs and some really low lows for me. I enjoyed it all through though.

Did anyone else entertain the possibility that Marissa Wigler was a hermafrodite? There were some clues sprinkled throughout the movie that pointed to her not being totally female...

What? Do tell.

 

[moniker]

Uhh, no. What gave you that idea? What I'd like to know is: did Hanna have sex with that girl?

The biggest clue was that the german guy said he had a thing for people with both male and female genitalia, then she gives him a kiss before leaving, maybe indicating that they'd had "a thing" in the past. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned they thought it was stupid to have Marissa running around in high heels but it might make sense if high heels (and other such things) is was important to her to present herself as female.

At one point I thought it would be revealed that Marissa was actually

Spoiler

Hanna's father. Burning the the DNA profiling, saying to the family they captured that the father of Hanna killed her mother. It might not have been a lie, she might have been referring to herself. The "don't you walk away from me young lady!" line sounds like something a parent would say to their child. All throughout the film they give you indications of Marissa having a strong emotional bond to Hanna (like a parent). There were other things as well but I'd have to rewatch to remember.

 

[JaseC]

The first half was better than the second half. Overall, I enyoed the film. The ost was amazing btw.

My favourite of the year. Can't stop listening to it.

 

[Neuromancer]

This film hit some really high highs and some really low lows for me. I enjoyed it all through though.

Did anyone else entertain the possibility that Marissa Wigler was a hermafrodite? There were some clues sprinkled throughout the movie that pointed to her not being totally female...

Haha what

 

[okdakor]

At one point I thought it would be revealed that Marissa was actually

Spoiler

Hanna's father

 

[Mechanical Snowman]

Uhh, no. What gave you that idea? What I'd like to know is: did Hanna have sex with that girl?

Yes.

 

[moniker]

Heh I'm just saying it crossed my mind. The scene with the german could just be to show that he's a weird dude but I got the impression it was more than that. It's a gigantic stretch but it's fun to think about.

Anyway, Marissa had an emotional attachment to Hanna which wasn't really clearly explained in the movie. She has an emotional response when the grandmother talks about loosing the child. Also, she says Hanna is "like her mother" after shooting grandma in the head, and the shot lingers on her face. The most obvious reading would be that she's referring to Hanna's real mother of course, that we saw in the car shooting, but she could also be referring to herself, as a killer. Then there's Hanna's mother's comment, "you'll never have her" (or something), while she was dying. I didn't think that line implied that Marissa wanted to kill Hanna, but something else.

I was also thinking at one point that maybe it would be revealed that the embryo was altered with DNA from Marissa or something, which might explain why she has a weird motherly bond to Hanna, but the movie doesn't support it.

Or she could just see herself as a "mother" because she created Hanna. But that doesn't explain her emotional attachment to Hanna since there were about 20 subjects.

I thought Marissa's motives throughout the movie were pretty vague overall...

 

[Zzoram]

It was awesome, but it unfortunately ran out of steam late in the game. The movie had some freaking badass sequences in it, so it's too bad they didn't save one for the end. Thought it could have used some more of one main thread at the end as well.

Spoiler

Considering the amount of time spent on Hanna getting to know that family and the outside world - some of my favorite parts of the movie - it's strange that they didn't pay off any of that at the end. They didn't even resolve her feelings about her "father." She gained information but we never saw her actually react to any of it.

I'm fine with everything that ultimately happened, but it felt like it ended a scene or two early.

I was loving it, it's always a bummer when something you're incredibly into kind of fizzles out a bit at the end. Still great, though, definitely worth seeing.

She's not supposed to react to it. Didn't you just hear that she was tweaked to reduce empathy?

 

[Zzoram]

Seen it last night and thought some parts were pretty stupid and laid out just to move the story.

Spoiler

When Anna tells the girl she met where she was really meeting her Dad, and at the end where Cate Blanchett is running around in high heels...

I agree that it was a bad idea to tell the girl, and heels seem like a poor choice for running.

I disagree with your assessment, actually.

Spoiler

Cate Blanchett's shoes are planted from the beginning. She's a badass spy who runs around in heels, despite that being a seemingly bad idea. It's a deliberate choice that says something about who she is, how much she cares about personal presentation, and how meticulous and calculated she can be. We first learn about her shoe preference very early on and there are multiple callbacks. You can not like the choice, but it's pretty clearly about character building, not plot.

Similarly Hanna telling the other girl about Berlin obviously advances the plot but is also intended to show that she has developed feelings of affection and trust for this near stranger even though she was supposed to be genetically engineered not to. It advances the plot but is also a character beat that helps the audience know where Hanna is at emotionally.

Actually now that you mention it, you're right, the heels make sense for the character.

 

[Zzoram]

Wow the hermaphrodite theory makes sense! It would explain the heels and dress despite their impracticality, the German guy's thing for people with both male and female genitalia, and I especially think the idea that she was Hanna's father makes sense now.

Bizarre that they had all that subtext for this background story.

SEER-shuh definitely has a fairy-like quality to her. All those close up scenes of her face and memorizing eyes made her seem like a fairy.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Just expressing my monthly wish for Joe Wright to direct the next Bond after Mendes.

 

[blahblah...blah]

Yes.

Sarcasm, right?

 

[Zzoram]

I'm not really sure why Hanna kissed that girl but didn't kiss the boy.

 

[The Chosen One]

Just watched the movie on blu-ray.

I had no idea what it was going in. While it started off strong, like many others in this thread I felt plot-wise it began to fizzle as the movie went on. I kept waiting to understand the character motivations behind all the chase sequences, but it never really happened. The movie was visually and audibly appealing, but the plot was your standard fare of action-flick emptiness.

Spoiler

Like Dali, I don't understand why he subjected his daughter to being swarmed and captured by a ton of special agents (which at any point she could have been shot) and then detained in an unknown facility. When later on in the movie he managed to get to Marissa's front-door with relative ease. It seems a protective parent would opt to put themselves at bigger risk over their child.

Also, it was pretty clear Marissa and the CIA were no longer actively seeking out Hanna. So why was Erik training her to be an assassin in the first place? It seems they could have very easily just moved to any remote place and live quietly. Sure there would still be some risks, but it would be better than sending his daughter on a solo suicide mission. In the movie, he wasn't trying to give her a normal life nor was trying to keep her absolutely safe. Sooo... what exactly was he trying to accomplish with her as the father?

And as others have pointed out, Marissa's emotional investment in the chase is never really explained, which IMO is a major flaw with the movie. If you're going to do a chase movie, the motivations of the Chaser and Chasee should be pretty clear. Otherwise it's just a bunch of mindless people chasing and running.

IMO, this is basically the modern version of an 80s action flick. Cool action and music, but not much substance behind it. And that's not a bad thing. It's a fun movie but it's not a cerebral action flick like Inception. And it's not on the level of the Borne series as a chase-flick.