Hanna

If I am not wrong, this is the first time that acclaimed director Joe Wright has made a departure from his forte of movies under the genre “Drama” and moved to “Espionage”. But then again, Hanna is actually one of the slowest action movies that I have seen in a long time. So it maybe correct to classify it as just Drama. In typical Joe Wright fashion (Atonement, Soloist, Pride & Prejudice), the movie pays painful attention to detail and consistency. It uses the right camera angles and the right cuts to create the maximum possible impact that Wright can deliver. Unfortunately, Wright is probably not cut out to deliver action / espionage movies the way a Tony Scott (Spy Game) or a Stephen Gaghan (Syrianna) can manage. Mind you I am at no point discounting Joe Wright’s capabilities as a director. He has been up there with his movies to date. But Hanna just didn’t cut enough ice with this amateur critic. At times, it just drifted too much for my comfort. Maybe it was the exceptional slowness that got to me.

Hanna is a story of revenge. Erik Heller (Eric Bana) is a CIA operative who has defected a few years back – over a decade ago. He is betrayed / cheated by his handler Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett). But if u view Marissa’s actions through the lens of the CIA, she was entrusted with a job and she got it done like any effective agent would have – ruthlessly. Nevertheless, Heller holds a grudge against Marissa not just because she tried to kill him but in the bargain also killed Eric’s wife. Heller escapes with his daughter Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) and over the years equips her with all that he has learnt during his years as an operative to be a vicious assassin. All with a single minded intent of killing Wiegler. All of this, in the jungles of Finland – how exotic I say. 17 years from Hanna’s birth, she tells her father that she is “ready” and switches on a tracker which gets the CIA to her (and not the other way round) – the mission begins.

I must say, I was a tad disappointed with Hanna – yet another case of the cover being better than the book… or in this case the trailer being far superior to the movie. The performances from all 3 lead actors were extremely good. Saoirse (pronounced SEER sha – never hurts to repeat it as often) Ronan proves yet again that she has an extremely bright future in Hollywood. I must watch The Lovely Bones sooner than later to figure out how she was in that one. But in 3 movies – Atonement, The Way Back and now Hanna – she has been very good to say the least. Cate Blanchett is and will be one of THE most versatile actresses to hit the screen. Her negative role as Wiegler was exceptional but a little below par on the Blanchett scale. Eric Bana was ice cold as always. Overall, Hanna survives more due to the performances and not as much due to the narration. I give it a 6 on 10. Worth a dekko positively but be prepared for a slow movie with some very strong moments.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi984063257/

Atonement

I had to finish Valentines Day with a movie that epitomizes true love. There are enough and more romantic comedies that were aired all through the day; some really good ones also. But what about the truest of love stores? The ones that are gut wrenchingly, excruciatingly painful but represent the concept of a long lasting love better than any other? I reviewed The English Patient yesterday and it was a sub conscious choice without giving much thought to the fact that it was actually a great build up to V Day. But picking up Atonement from my collection was not only a choice driven by the fact that I hadn’t seen it (the previous copy I had picked up was a DVD released by Big Videos and didn’t have subtitles and so was promptly returned) but also because I was looking at a love story and not a RomCom to finish off the day. I had my share of RomComs before Atonement with Hitch and Hope Springs. So a Golden Globe Winner and one with 7 Oscar nominations (one win) seemed to be a great choice.


What would be the emotions you could possibly go through if you are about 13 years old (a very peculiar and impressionable age) and you walked into the library of your massive house and found your sister having sex with the man that she loves who is coincidentally the one that you have a massive crush on. 13 year old - Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan – pronounced SEER sha); Sister – Cecilia Tallis (Kiera Knightley); Lover – Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). The embarrassed couple straightens their clothes and walk away.

The Tallises have their cousins from the north staying with them due some domestic problems – The Twins – Pierrot Quincey (Felix von Simson) and Jackson Quincey (Charlie von Simson) along with their elder sister Lola (Juno Temple). The twins don’t want to stay with their cousins and decide to run away that evening. Obviously the family panics and a search party is sent out. During the search, Briony stumbles upon someone molesting Lola and is shocked even further. Neither Lola nor Briony is sure about who the person was. But using this as an opportunity to get back @ Robbie, the naïve 13 year old gets him arrested as a prime witness. The fledgling romance between Robbie and Cecilia is smashed to smithereens. Robbie goes to prison and then to the war. Cecilia, leaves home and becomes a nurse. They keep their relationship alive through the years despite the frequency of meetings and the distances.

Atonement as the title suggests is a story of a girl’s search for retribution as she comes of age and understands the gravity of her actions. And how she tries to set things right. Yet another adapted screenplay, this one is based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name. I haven’t read the book but can only assume that it did deal with the aspect of Briony’s struggle to come to terms with her actions a bit more in detail. As aspect that was not given as much justice in the movie. The movie focused more on the love story between the protagonists who have done a very good job of bringing to fore the emotions that the lovers go through in sustaining their relationship through the years that build up to the war. Somehow, Joe Wright doesn’t seem to have done justice to the entire concept. Maybe it was in an attempt to keep the movie to under 2 hours. I would have risked extending it by about 30 minutes because the pace is quite solid and doesn’t really drop through the movie. The first thing that does hit you about the movie is the music which seems to be made with a typewriter and one which got the movie its only Oscar. Great cinematography. Some obvious slips on attention to detail – like Kiera Knightley’s luscious red lips in a nurse’s uniform. But Beautiful love story overall. Put this on your must watch list. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3836805401/