Hanna (2011)

Where can I start? 2hrs of brilliance. This is why we go to the cinema. A hyperbolic statement maybe... certainly but i think we don't necessarily expect everything we see to be a life-affirming masterpiece (and I'm not saying Hanna is) but simply to be taken on a journey using story and personality and visuals that are in tune with each other and it's rare when films pull that off, it's rare when everything in a film feels in-sync and it's a small miracle because films are made by a group not just one person. I hope I'm not disappearing up my own arse and i don't know why this film has provoked this flowery-talk but i get a high from good films or films that i like and when you get high, sometimes your focus lets you see the woods from the trees. Hanna is not the greatest film I seen this year or will see but... pretty excellent.
Because...  everyone involved is excellent. Soinare Roisin is brilliant at being a teenage girl killing machine, completely void of much emotion. Bana is on auto-pilot and Blanchett's Wicked-Witch routine may be a little too rich but by the same token, the campy asexual German hitman that Tom Hollander plays might call into the same category for some but I thought he was delightful! I squealed with joy everytime he came back on screen with his white Sergio Tachinni tracksuit and bleach blond hair. BEST VILLAIN EVER.
And there's a family made up of Olivia Williams, Jason Fleyming, dfghjjk and a cute little boy who are a delight too, as this grossly middle-class family travelling Europe in their camper, that Hanna stumbles on. Firstly, fhhjjkls sushi is a brilliant young actress and every thing she says is either completely hilarious or heart-breakingly loving; i remembered afterwards that she was in Tamara Drewe and stole that film as well. She's going to be a joy to watch grow as an actress. And secondly, it's so nice to see Jason Fleyming in a decent part in a good film! He seems like such a nice guy and genuine but never quite... hit his stride as a film actor, do you know what I mean?
So that's nice.
It probably almost goes without saying that Hanna is the product of a masterful orchestration by Joe Wright. I'd written Joe Wright off I ashamed to say before this- I thought he wanted to be Ang Lee or Minghella based on his 1st 3films- Sense & Sensibility, Atonement and The Pianist and i'll admit I'd only see Atonement, which is also superbly directed-it's just the other 2 were such retreads. Now I think Wright is Right! Hanna is such a breath of fresh air in his career, it's practically a debut and i think time will remember Wright more fondly then Sam Mendes. Who sucks. Not a fan.
Wright is showing off directing muscles we didn't know he had...  like cutting parts of the film like to Chemical Brothers video-because it's original Chemical Brothers music! It's one of the few times I've wanted to listen to a film score afterwards.
Also kudos to Seth Lochhead and David Farr, relative newcomers to screenwriting and are smart enough to not bog the script down and keep it as sparse as possible.
I fear Hanna is as close as we will get to an 'Inception' this summer-the classy, Smart action film but some summers, you don't even get that...

I watched Hanna (2011) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with Nicky and Mikey (1974)....