# Hanna - Blu-ray Review



## Dave Upton

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7037&w=l[/img]*Title:* _Hanna_
*Starring:* Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett
*Directed by:* Joe Wright
*Written by:* Seth Lochhead, David Farr
*Studio: * Universal
*Rated:* PG-13
*Runtime:* 111 min
*Release Date:* 9/6/2011 (Blu-Ray)

*Movie:* :4.5stars:
*Video:* :4.5stars:
*Audio:* :5stars: 
*Extras:* :3.5stars: 




*HTS Overall Score:*92

*Summary:*

Hanna (Ronan) is a young teenage girl who lives in the forest of northern Finland. Hanna spends her days hunting and being trained by her father Erik (Bana) in hand to hand combat and with weapons. Hanna possesses uncanny strength, often surprising or even besting her father. Erik constantly surprises and sneaks up on Hanna, not even allowing her to sleep peacefully as he trains her to be constantly vigilant. Hanna is the perfect assassin, and as she begins to grow tired of the training with her father she tells him she is ready for the mission she has spent her life preparing for. Hanna must find and assassinate Marissa Wiegler, a CIA handler who used to work with Erik. 

Erik activates a distress beacon and disappears, allowing Hanna to be brought in by special forces. What the CIA soldiers do not know, is that Hanna has planned this all along. Hanna executes a decoy who pretends to be Marissa Wiegler, and escapes - beginning a journey that will take her across Europe to reunite with her father as she tries to stay a step ahead of Wiegler's agents. As Hanna journeys she learns startling things about herself, her father, and who she really is that cause her to question her own humanity.

*Movie:*:4.5stars:[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7038&w=l[/img]

Hanna is unlike almost anything out there stylistically speaking, it alternates between frenetic action, peaceful dialogue, and rapt suspense. Hanna is a mesmerizing and gripping film that is caught halfway between our world and the world of fairy tales as told by the Brothers Grimm. Ronan's performance is exemplary and truly impresses for an actress so young. This is a very unusual film told with an unconventional style of storytelling, but I found it superbly enjoyable and utterly engrossing. 

This is certainly a love it or hate it film; as Wright takes the viewer on a mind bending journey alongside Hanna one can't help but be either mesmerized or disappointed. Before you make up your mind, I would advise a second or even third viewing - as the peculiar but subtle world within a world becomes clear. Suddenly, at some point the characters that Hanna encounters are not simply people anymore - they are representations of the fairy creatures conceived by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Hanna is the fairy princess and Cinderella, Wiegler the evil stepmother and wicked witch, Erik the hapless father or king and Isaacs the evil henchman; each character in this film seems to mirror an archetype from classical literature and European fairy tales. Whatever your verdict after giving this film a viewing, I hope you will agree that at its core this is a film with a heart. A film that investigates what it means to be human, and what that humanity is worth. Love it or hate it, Hanna is certainly worth watching, perhaps for the questions it evokes alone.

*Video:*:4.5stars:[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7039&w=l[/img]

Hanna comes to Blu-Ray with a beautiful 1080p AVC encode that is almost as stylistically malleable as the film itself. What begins in the monotonic world of snow and forest soon becomes desert sand dunes, cityscapes and shipyards. Hanna isn't a demo quality film that focuses on ultra-sharp Battle: LA-esque detail, but it is a gorgeous transfer full of excellent detail, color saturation and shadow delineation. Blacks are consistently inky without any crush though some scenes suffer from excessive contrast - though this appears to be stylistic in nature. No visual artifacts are present in this transfer that warrant mentioning, resulting in an overall picture that is consistent and extremely enjoyable though still short of reference.



*Audio:*:5stars:[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7040&w=l[/img]

The DTS-HD Master Audio mix that accompanies Hanna is a marvel - powerful, dynamic, authoritative and utterly engrossing. From the first second until the credits roll there is nothing sub par about this mix, whether it's the deep and full bodied LFE content, the strange and marvelous Chemical Brothers score, or crisp dialogue. Surround content in Hanna is plentiful and extremely well designed, with spatial queues and atmospherics being precisely localized yet not distracting. Immersion and impact are both incredible in this mix - with a dynamic range this is extremely impressive. Dialogue never gets lost in the action, and likewise action is as convincing and in your face as it can be without overwhelming other elements. This is a superbly mixed release that is a must-hear for all the audio nuts out there. Reference.


*Extras:*:3.5stars:[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7041&w=l[/img]

Though I would have loved to see more material here, Hanna is compelling enough on its own to merit a purchase despite a relatively weak assortment of extra content. Keep in mind that Extra content in particular is a moving target - each time a film comes out that dwarfs the last in terms of Extras, the bar is set higher for the next release. Many films released today would have 5 stars two years ago, and only two and a half today.


*Audio Commentary:* Director Joe Wright delivers an excellent and informative commentary that gives great insight into his thought process, the casting, and how the film was put together.
*Adapt or Die [HD]:* A featurette featuring director Joe Wright, Saoirse Ronan and Eric Bana as they discuss combat training, action scenes and much more in this 13 minute clip.
*Central Intelligence Allegory [HD]:* Cast and crew discuss the fantasy elements of the story and how symbols play into the narrative.
*Chemical Reaction [HD]:* Wright talks about why he chose the Chemical Brothers and other elements of how the score came about.
*Anatomy of a Scene: The Escape from Camp G [HD]:* A very short look at how a scene is built from story board to construction and finally shooting.
*Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending [HD]:* The alternate ending isn't bad, but it's the only real change in this 5 minute feature.
*The Wide World of Hanna [HD]:* A fairly pointless two minute feature.
*BD-Live and News Ticker*
*My Scenes Bookmarking*


*Overall:*:4.5stars:[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=7043&w=l[/img]

Hanna is a great film for many reasons, first and foremost of these being that it is original. In an era of reboots, relaunches and recycled ideas Hanna is a refreshing take on the assassin/action genre, and also a unique integration of fairy tale lore into a live action film similar to Pan's Labyrinth. While some viewers are sure to be turned off by the fact that this is a film that requires you to think, playing along is not without its rewards. The storytelling in Hanna is superb, as are the performances given by the cast. While Hanna isn't popcorn entertainment at its core, it does challenge Hollywood conventions and respect the viewer enough to demand a degree of attention and analysis. Whatever notions I may have given you of the film in my review, I strongly encourage you to give it a watch, if only to see that once in a while a movie does come out that isn't a knock off or a cheap grab at revenue. Hanna might be polarizing and it might be a little twisted in its form of storytelling, but perhaps it's all this that makes Hanna a great movie. Highly Recommended.


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## Cyberfloatie

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Great review! I was going to give this movie a pass but after reading your take on it I've changed my mind and am now looking forward to seeing it.


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## Dale Rasco

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Definitely has peaked my interest.


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## bambino

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I haven't heard of this one yet but by your review Dave it looks like i'm gonna have to give it a watch. Thanks for the review.:T


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## Dwight Angus

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Peaked my interest as well. I will rent this one.


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## btheoret

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*



Cyberfloatie said:


> Great review! I was going to give this movie a pass but after reading your take on it I've changed my mind and am now looking forward to seeing it.


I agree, I wasn't going to bother seeing this one, but after reading your review, I'm gonna go check it out. I'm always looking for good movies to check out. 

One I'd recommend checking out is The Hunting Party, it is loosely based on real-life events in Bosnia, 5 years after the Bosnian war. It stars Simon Hunt (a journalist played by Richard Gere), Duck (Simon's cameraman played by Terrence Howard), and Benjamin (the network executive's son played by Jesse Eisenberg) on the hunt for Radoslav Bogdanovi, known as "The Fox" who is a wanted war criminal with a $5 million bounty on his head. The three are trying to find the Fox and interview him.

I don't want to give anything regarding the plot away, but the back-story is just heartbreaking. You see what is really driving Simon to do what he does. It's a serious movie with some humorous undertones and it just felt real and not forced. I enjoyed the banter between the three main characters and thought it was really well done and is one of those ones I'll go back to and watch again (already have multiple times at this point).

Enjoy!


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## berty52

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I'm looking to see this one, still not shure if I will buy it or rent it. This is the first big movie of this summer coming to B-R. :clap:


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## Dale Rasco

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Just finished it and the review was spot on as always... Well, 99% of the time anyway...:neener:


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## mojojojo

I missed this movie when it came out and then, well, forgot about it! Was like 'oh ya, I want to see this' when I heard it was coming out on BD, so will be making my way to the rental store soon. Glad to see the movie lives up to the previews. Thanks!


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## Jon Liu

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I missed this one in theaters, but was really wanting to watch it... I kept hearing great reviews on this one, so I will be definitely picking it up! Thanks for your review!


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## fight4yu

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Hope I can get it in blockbuster tomorrow!


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## mojojojo

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

So went down to the local movie rental store and picked up Hanna on BD. Hmm, ya... Movie starts off well and ends well - but takes on a 'life development' turn in between all the action. Man, as soon as I saw that family in the Moroccan hotel, I knew their fate. The audio is also interesting, full of electronically generated sounds layered one upon each other.

I would not bother.


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## ironglen

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

While I felt it was a good movie, a couple elements led to it falling short of great, the primary one being the conclusion/ending. I didn't have a problem with the outcome, but I felt how it came about in the last ten minutes was ridiculous. Without leaving a spoiler here, I can't go further, but suffice to say, it's a rental in my book because of that glaring shortcoming.

Man, my house was pulsating! That soundtrack was really cool, and suited the film amazingly well- worth the rental just for that alone! I don't listen to techno much, but the Chemical Bros. hit a home run in my book. :T


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## Jon Liu

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I've now watched this film 3 times since it came out on Blu-ray and the music is absolutely infectious! I find myself whistling the antagonists tune throughout the day...


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## gorb

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I really enjoyed the film. I'll buy it eventually


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## Picture_Shooter

I'm going to go on ahead a purchase this one.


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## Owen Bartley

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I really enjoyed this movie in the theatre, and would watch it again at home, especially with anyone who missed the theatrical run. It was great to see a little girl version of Jason Bourne running around, and the Chemical Bros. soundtrack was full of energy and intensity.


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## Cory Phoenix

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Caught this one last night and MAN, the LFEs are ridiculous! The scene where the rangers storm her house in the snow pressurized my room and literally rattled a corkscrew off my bar. This would certainly be a great track to use for subwoofer testing. :TT


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## kadijk

Owen... I agree. Interesting story, some good twists and turns, and teen-watchable in my opinion( important in our house). And on top of that a great soundtrack that often juxtaposes against the landscape and Hanna's calm and cool "Bourne- likeness". Just talking/reading about it makes me want to watch it again. My only complaint is Eric Banna. I love his role in Blackhawk Down, but this character should have been Liam Neeson...


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## Todd Anderson

I remember seeing the preview this movie in the treaters and thinking "pass.". I had completely forgotten about it until reading this review - now, I'm intrigued. Just won a copy off eBay for a reasonable $ amount .... Can't wait to check it out!


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## guynoir

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I just watched this beautiful film over the weekend (disclaimer: I vote on some of the awards and the studio sent me a screener, and I had no prior knowledge of this film). It was a surprise from scene 1 to the end. Saorise Ronin makes it hard to take your eyes off her, she plays vulnerable girl and tireless fighter at once. The trans-european thriller was very nicely shot, the sound was great (though some of the FX seemed panned a bit hard L/R) and the Chemical Brothers music tied it all together. A very satisfying film!


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## Todd Anderson

I agree with the above -- to add, the chemical brothers soundtrack pulsates and adds a very rich texture to the movie.

A+


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## tesseract

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Dave, thanks for the review. I prefer to rent movies, and after doing so, decided to buy this one. :T


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## d12d

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

This is a very good movie. There are some good action scenes as well as a decent somewhat original story. This movie is definitely worth watching and I would consider it a 7.5/10


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## Dwight Angus

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Good review Dave. I rented this one and really enjoyed it. I will buy it to add the the collection.


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## PRAYER

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I had to search for a review of Hanna. I agree; I thought it was awesome too.

I just watched the DVD version but frankly forgot that it was DVD most of the time.. The audio and video are that well produced.

I especially like all of the contrasts... *spoiler alert* being in a totally natural wilderness setting in the beginning, with natural soft serene soundscapes, and then slammed into a cold mechanical prison with blasting electronic music sizzling through the 5.1 channels.... this happens in many ways over and over throughout the film.

awesome stuff


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## phreak

Finally got to watch Hanna. Is there any acting award that this kid does not deserve?


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## JBrax

I really enjoyed this movie and found the story was written well. As soon as the price comes down a bit this will be added to my BD collection.


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## olddog

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Thanks for the review. I and my Wife gave it a watch and I for one was surprised! I loved it. I wonder though how many younger folks that did not have any first hand experience with the 60s and what was going on will get it?


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## amythompson172

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Pretty good movie, if I say so myself. The Review was a fantastic read as well! Thanks Dave!


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## Thunderheader

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Great movie, nice review, thanks!


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## ozar

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I saw just a portion of this movie on cable the other day and it looked better than I had anticipated, so that and this review makes me want to check it out. On top of that, Saoirse Ronan is quickly becoming a very good actress.

Thanks for the review.


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## Mud_Bone

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

I admit I don't keep up with movies so much anymore and never go to see them in theatre. never even heard of this movie, but will search it out after reading this. thanks for your thoughts


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## guynoir

*Re: Hanna - Blu-Ray Review*

Glad y'all liked the film, and the review. But you don't have to call me Dave 

-John


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## kingnoob

very good movie, entertaining , great story-line. I saw this in theaters a few years ago and was blown away by it so good for a pg-13 movie. I would rate it 82/100.


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