Just got back from it awhile ago. Wrote a review on FB:
This film was the most satisfying non foreign film I've seen in quite a long time. How refreshing it is to see a director who places confidence in his choreography and photography instead of the soporific reliance upon sloppy, choppy, rapid fire editing. Yes Paul Greengrass, I'm looking at you, and your powers of lenticular obfuscation. There is a shot midway through the film where Eric Bana fends off some assailants that reminds me of the hallway sequence of Old Boy sandwiched into the 360 degree panoramic shot that Alfonso Cuaron utilized in Children of Men. Yes, the car shot. You know the one. It was a concise and brief shot, but I nearly let out a cheer when that occurred, because finally, someone out there got it. The action in Hanna is not drawn out and indulgent, it is like the title character - quick, and efficient.
The Chemical Brothers supplied a marvelous soundtrack to supplement the pitch perfect visuals. Daft Punk delivered a good, serviceable soundtrack for Tron; it ebbed and pulsed, and it was even groovy, but it felt a tad safe. Hanna's ditches the commercialism as it twists, modulates, and distorts. There is even some Arab flamenco thrown into the mix. It'll make you hold your breath, and impress you with its eclecticism, though it's not A.R. Rahman, but then again, who is?
The supporting cast executes their roles as you might expect: Blanchett is cold and steely, and Bana is alternatively fatherly and intense. There is a family that Hanna encounters at the beginning of the film. Her newfound friend Sophie is roughly her age, and chatty and rather vacuous. Juxtaposed against Hanna, we wonder if Hanna herself might not have turned out the same way if not for her Bushido-esque upbringing. Which brings us to Saoirse Ronan. She's the clear eyed, girlish type of beauty I wish we'd see more of in films, reminding me perhaps of Evan Rachel Wood. She first caught my eye in Atonement, where she handled her role with emotive finesse. With Hanna, well, let's make that two for two. Ronan's character is adept at neutralizing foes and adapting to hazardous situations. She is a polyglot with an encyclopedic knowledge, but she has difficulty navigating social terrain, coming across as anything but natural in her interactions with others. Is this a stealth critique on the hazards of homeschooling? Perhaps. Ronan tiptoes the line between La Femme Nikita and fragile, feral child adroitly.
These aren't characters we haven't seen before, nor is this an original plot. This isn't "I Saw the Devil", so unhinged and unrestrained that it sears itself into your conscience. It is, however, the best American made thriller I've seen in some time. Do catch it.
