Hanna Review

I was lucky enough to go watch a pre-screening of Hanna this last week. I have to say that I quite enjoyed it. Here’s my take on it.
Hanna’s premise is quite simple, She’s a girl who is sheltered and raised in the forest by her dad to become the ultimate killing and hunting machine. Throw a little murder mystery (even though it’s fairly predictable) and government conspiracy into the mix and you have Hanna.
The leads in the movie are Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, and Eric Bana. Cate Blanchett plays the villain and she does a fairly good job. Her villain tends to operate behind the scenes and sends everyone out to do her dirty work and she brings a gun to a fist-fight, so she’s kind of a cheap bitch. Eric Bana plays mentor and father to Hanna. Not much is known about him, but more is slowly revealed. Although he is not too interesting in the story, but his action scenes are VERY fun to watch. and Saoirse plays the titular Hanna. Quite, cute and apparently German, Hanna knows nothing of the real world apart from dictionary facts. Seeing her grow and experience the world is quite fun, as well as seeing her take down three men twice her size.
Like I said, the story is actually quite simple, and the plot twists are given away by the plot itself before the movie reveals them. Essentially you have Hanna who has to fight Marissa (Blanchett) as some sort of birthright fight for revenge… I think. She’s trained to be an elite soldier and hunter by her Father Eric Heller (Bana). She’s chased all the way from Finland to Morocco and to Germany by Marissa and her (gay?) German thugs. Really, the plot just serves as a connection for some wicked fight scenes.
The Fight scenes and Soundtrack are what really stand out here. Fight scenes are choreographed by by the same person who did The Bourne Trilogy fights. So expect fluid, powerful and tricky urban fights. Featuring very few guns, the fights are mostly hand to hand, and not really taking advantage of the surroundings, the fights are more brutal than flashy. My one disappointment is that early on it’s hinted that Hanna is a hunter, I was hoping to see more Hunter/Prey style fights and chases, but I didn’t get that. Instead I found out how well Hanna can hide. How well she can hide and NOT slash someone’s ankle tendons… gosh.
The soundtrack is great. I can describe it as Grunge Techno if that even makes sense. Composed by The Chemical Brothers, expect deep bass and some catchy beats. The music gives the whole movie a little of a sci-fi conspiracy feel, which if that’s what they wanted, then they certainly achieved it.
Overall, the plot isn’t necessarily the strongest part (even though it has one  of the best full circle intro/outro sequence I’ve seen in a long time), but the performances are solid, music is fantastic and the fight choreography is great. Definitely a great spring movie, I’d watch it twice, even if just for the Fights and Music.

Resolution 2011… Failure?

Oh, goodness. I’ve been failing at all this. I feel like I’m preparing constantly to start, but I’m not making any real progress. Anyways, here’s some updates!!

I will rent and review 1 movie per week.

Been renting, but not reviewing.

I will watch at least 2 movies in theaters every month.

This one gets expensive, but I haven’t been trying.

I will review a new CD every 2 weeks.

Got Rhapsody in order to do this, just have to actually listen to the whole album now.

I will redesign my website and maintain it better.

gah! I don’t even know what I would put on it.

I will focus on my Comm. Classes better and pass with a B or better.

Waiting, hopefully going to get a student loan.

I will read 5 books in this year.

I’m going to read Dark Tower over the next couple of days… I have to return it.

I will draw 1 whole image per week. (This means, sketching, inking and coloring; minimum.)

Ha!! I barely even sketched something last week, but I do need the practice something fierce

I will practice my guitar for 40 minutes 5 days a week.

Also… not doing too good. Seems like instead of practicing I’m… blogging.

I will be able to play 5 full songs from memory on the guitar by years end.

It’s still just April, I got a chance.

My resolution for 2011 is to lose 60 pounds.

My checkpoints include, but certainly are not limited to these:

March 20: Have lost 15-20 pounds

Didn’t even come close.

May 20: Have lost 15-20 more pounds [Total 30]

I think I could lose 15 pounds by then, but not the 30 total I expected. At least I haven’t gained weight, I’m still at the same weight I was when I started.

August: Have lost 10-15 more pounds [Total 40/45]

November: Have lost 10-15 more pounds [Total 55/60]

December 20: Have lost 60 pounds total.

Haven’t given up, I’m still hoping that these things will become a habit for next year. My friend said that these things are for self improvement, and we can’t expect perfection from the get-go. We have to work on it, and by year’s end, we should be starting to perfect the items on our list, rather than finishing them.