COLUMN: Movie uses refreshingly new actors

    “Hanna” was the perfect movie to end my reign as movie reviewer this semester. I could not be happier to review such a masterpiece.

    Saoirse Ronan from “Lovely Bones” and Eric Bana from “Time Traveler’s Wife” star in “Hanna,” a story of a young girl who is uniquely raised in the forests of Finland by her father. She is trained to hunt game with a bow and arrow, speak several languages and ultimately be the perfect assassin.

    At age 16, Hanna reaches a point of curiosity and self-sufficiency, ready to discover life outside the wilderness. She has one mission, kill agent Marissa, an old friend of Hanna’s father involved in a serious conspiracy. Never experiencing music or electricity and with the motto of “adapt or die,” Hanna (Ronan) makes her way around the world.

    A theme of kill or be killed takes precedent initially, but as Hanna grows and learns from interactions from new friends and enemies, she finds her father can only prepare her for so much. For the first time, she discovers the loud, hectic yet beautiful life that is worth living.

    The trailer created high expectations, and when I heard that Joe Wright was directing “Hanna,” I was sold. If it was going to be nearly as good as Wright’s other successful blockbusters “Atonement,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “The Soloist,” I would have been content. Now that I have seen “Hanna” I can safely say it is indeed as good. In fact, if I had to pick my favorite of his works, I would have to say “Hanna” takes the gold.

    Wright experimented with interesting and psychedelic camera work, like turning the camera 360 degrees in synchronization with the soundtrack. The music perfectly depicted the moments of weirdness and intensity. Without a well-selected soundtrack “Hanna” would have not been the epic thriller it is.  

    Ronan is incredible at age 19. She portrayed Hanna convincingly well. In moments of despair, confusion, delight and satisfaction I did not question for a second her skills as an upcoming actress. If Ronan can effectively depict a role such as Hanna, she can take on bigger, better roles and in turn win many Oscars for her accomplishments. Ronan is the next Meryl Streep or even Cate Blanchett.

    I always love Eric Bana even when he played Captain Nero in “Star Trek,” he never fails to exceed expectations. As a ruggedly handsome actor playing characters as diverse as Henry from “Time Traveler’s Wife” to Clarke in “Funny People,” Bana proves to deliver in any role he chooses to take on. His father role is no different; maybe it is easier to play someone with the same name like Eric playing Erik.

    Cate Blanchett is breathtakingly talented. At first glance I had no idea that she was agent Marissa, the female, obsessive-compulsive antagonist. The bad guys that are actually bad gals sometimes come off as either a butch, dirty kind of villain or the sexy, scary kind.     However, agent Marissa looked normal, which somehow made it more gripping.

    Blanchett utilizing a perfect southern accent, red hair and a calm demeanor completed the film. Marissa is obviously troubled and slightly insane, characteristics that Blanchett applied astutely while not overdoing it.

    I would like to give a standing ovation to the leading roles for their superb performances – which is only but expected – as well as to the lesser supporting roles such as Tom Hollander and Jessica Barden. Each year the new upcoming actors are getting younger and even more talented.

    If you remember Dakota Fanning, a young successful actress, she was all over Hollywood and people couldn’t stop raving about her. Though she is still an impeccable actress, it is nice to see some fresh faces like Jessica Barden, who played Hanna’s preppy friend, Sophie. Kudos to whoever was in charge of casting.

    There is one note that is less than positive I would like to make; though the storyline was intriguing and well-executed, I would have given Hanna more of life to experience. I would have liked to see her journey as a young girl out in the real world being depicted longer. There needed to be more of a journey in general. Other than that, there is nothing much to complain about.

    I have been making a mental list of the top movies I have seen thus far this year. Near the top of the list I have, “Limitless,” “Source Code” and “Hanna,” coincidentally the last three movies I have reviewed. “Hanna” was well-casted, well-directed, well-acted and down right an excellent film.

– Anike Pullens is a junior majoring in public relations and minoring in sign language. She enjoys movies any day of the week. Her favorite food is chocolate chip mint ice cream. Anike can be contacted at Anike.pullens@aggiemail.usu.edu.