Hanna - It was better the first time around

Sometimes, I’ll watch a film and not really like it.  Then, over time, for one reason or another I’ll start thinking about it and decide to view it again.  Quite often, a second viewing can make all the difference and I’ll end up liking the film.  However, I kind of did the opposite with ‘Hanna.’ I’ve just watched it for a second time (having quite enjoyed it the first time round and therefore buying it on DVD) and it’s kind of left me a little hollow.

Yes, I know it was never meant to be a great Oscar-worthy work of art.  I’m quite happy to sit through ‘no-brainer’ action flicks which are there only to entertain.  And, although that does – kind of – apply to Hanna, I thought there was more to it originally.

The titular ‘Hanna’ is a genetically-engineered super-kid who’s been spirited away from her CIA creators and raised as ‘the perfect assassin’ by her – equally skilled – father.  Then, one day he decides they should go and kill the people responsible for creating her.  You don’t really find out why.  Maybe because she’s just turned 16?

So her dad (Eric Bana) just wanders off and agrees to meet her somewhere in Europe.  Hanna gets captured (or allows herself to get captured) so that she can escape.  Then the film is basically a sixteen-year-old girl killing one wave of CIA hitmen after the next.

Yes, it’s quite nicely shot, but there are times when you really have to suspend your disbelief to get anything out of it.  I can buy that – technically – this film is *almost* sci-fi, what with Hanna’s ‘genetically-engineered’ heritage, so you have to accept that she can do things that no real human ever could.  However, she’s still just a killer in a thin, sixteen year old girl’s body, which makes it a little unbelievable sometimes.

Plus she’s not that easy to root for.  She murders everything that moves and displays little emotion because of it (just like every other character in the film!).  Yes, there’s some character development as she tries to become friends and lead a ‘normal’ life over her ‘destiny,’ but she’s still a little robotic to truly be ‘liked.’

On my second viewing, I didn’t hate the film.  I may well watch it again in a few years time, but I just didn’t really feel as forgiving to its flaws as I obviously did the first time around.  If you want to totally suspend your disbelief and watch a pretty little ‘chase’ film set in Europe, you could give this a go.  The ‘Taken’ films aren’t as pretty, but even they’re more believable!

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights