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Hanna
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Andy James & Noor Razzak (24th October 2011). |
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The Film
 Joe Wright, it seems, is not a director that will do what people expect. This is the man who has previously brought us two English period dramas (one an Austen adaptation!) and a true-life tale about a mentally-broken musician. Now, with "Hanna", he gives us an art-house thriller; the espionage film as music-video; Bourne as a not-so-sweet 16 year-old girl. The young chameleon more commonly known as Saoirse Ronan is the eponymous Hanna, a remarkable young girl raised in the frozen far North, removed from civilisation by her father Erik (Eric Bana). Erik (with a pretty great Russian accent from Bana) has been raising Hanna in hiding, for her own safety. There are covert powers that would love nothing less than for her to be wiped from the face of the Earth, and these are personified in the brittle and deadly CIA agent Marissa (Cate Blanchett). Hanna and Erik spend their days hunting, learning, fighting and testing. Erik is doing what he can to prepare Hanna for the day when she is ready - ready to be unleashed upon Marissa and the world. He has taught Hanna numerous forms of armed and unarmed combat, a vast array of languages and a host of other skills pertinent to a top secret agent. It's the kind of education that has taught her the theory of music, without her ever hearing any. And then the day comes when Hanna is ready. The signal is sent, the black helicopters are on their way and Hanna is forced in to the world to kill Marissa and rejoin Erik. What Wright gives us is a chase/espionage/coming-of-age story as Hanna is quickly captured, escapes and hooks up with a vaguely hippy English family in Morocco. She hitches a ride with them and, through their daughter Sophie (Jessica Barden), catches a glimpse of the "normal" life she has been sorely missing. Marissa, determined to hunt Hanna down at any cost, employs the cruel, camp Isaacs (Tom Hollander - creepy and wonderful) and his henchmen. It's a propulsive plot, moving quickly across countries before climaxing in Berlin, amongst a host of symbolically decrepit playgrounds. The score by The Chemical Brothers pumps throughout - especially during Hanna's initial escape through tunnels and airducts large and small. It is definitely a case of the score becoming an organic part of the action, the visual and aural feeding and feeding off one another. And Wright proves himself a more than capable action director - the centerpiece being another of his long one-takes involving Eric Bana, a subway and multiple agents being taken down with surgical efficiency. These scenes are also constructed with more thought and care than any other CG spectacles you care to name; these action sequences all speak to character and themes and are meant to be more than just "cool shit". "Hanna" is not a perfect film, with a couple of missteps taken, and it will not redefine the action or espionage genres but it is something special and unique. And, in this ever-franchising world, that is something to be enjoyed and celebrated.
Video
Presented in the film's original 2.40:1 aspect ratio in HD 1080p 24/fps and mastered in AVC MPEG-4 compression. The fim's image is simply awesome! Stunning! Brilliant! Universal delivered one of the most solid and beautiful transfers I've seen on the format. Helped along by Wright's wonderful cinematic eye and cinematographer Alwin H. Kuchler who managed to deliver stunning images. The film's various locations are presented magnificently amid the wide scope of the 2.40:1 frame and in brilliant detail, textures and colors that pop, blacks that are deep and inky, skin tones that are natural and depth that's unsurpassed. There are no flaws whatsoever, this is a transfer that will look good on any display small or large.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included on this disc in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as as standard DTS 5.1 surround tracks in both French and Spanish. Much like the stunning image the DTS-HD track bursts at the seams with a deep, rich and complex audio mix that shows off this film's action and suspense beautifully. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, ambient and environmental surrounds are subtle yet natural and excellently places throughout the surround space. The action scenes pop off the screen with active and robust action effects sounds that rumble and boom. Finally the film's score is equally impressive and uses the space well adding a further layer of depth to the audio track. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Universal has released this film with a nice collection of supplements that include an audio commentary, an alternate ending, a series of deleted scenes, a collection of five featurettes, a promo, there's BD-Live access and a digital copy. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is the feature-length scene-specific audio commentary with director Joe Wright. From previous commentaries Wright has been incredibly forthright and honest in his tracks about the films he's made and on what he likes and dislikes. He presents an engaging track despite being on his own the entire time. While other directors need the help of other participants, Wright seems to have a handle on it from the beginning. He manages to dissect the film and offers an incredible insight into the film's genesis, production and challenges faced during the filming. He delves into the various creative decisions and on what his intentions were for each scene and on how the film's progresses. It's a great track worth listening to. The disc features an alternate ending (1080p) which runs for 1 minute 28 seconds, this ending feels a bit tacked-on and I'm glad that Wright had the sense to cut it and pretty much adds an unnecessary minute to the film's conclusion. Next up are a series of deleted scenes (1080p) which runs for a collective 3 minutes 46 seconds. Nothing in here is particularly noteworthy and mainly features some extensions to scenes already featured in the final cut of the film. The series of scenes are worth glossing over once, but that's about it. It would have been nice to have Wright's commentary on these scenes to explain the omissions. "Adapt or Die" is a Blu-ray exclusive featurette (1080p) which runs for 13 minutes 15 seconds. This clip takes a closer look at the stunts for the film, taking specific aim at the fight choreography in this short but insightful clip that features some decent interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. "Central Intelligence Allegory" is another Blu-ray exclusive featurette (1080p) which runs for 8 minutes 54 seconds. This clip takes a look at the fairy tale elements of the film as well as the story elements. Again it's a nice clip that offers some decent insight but could have been expanded to at least documentary length, a bit more depth would have been nice. "Chemical Reaction" is the next Blu-ray exclusive featurette (1080p) which runs for 6 minutes 6 seconds and delves into the film's unique and wonderful score created by The Chemical Brothers and features interviews worth checking out. "Anatomy of a Scene: The Escape from Camp G" is the next featurette (1080p) which runs for 3 minutes 10 seconds, this is a fairly straight forward EPK clip that takes a look at the escape scene and we get a breakdown of it. "The Wide World of Hanna" is the last Blu-ray exclusive featurette (1080p) runs for 2 minutes 12 seconds, this clip quickly glosses over the various and exotic filming locations for this film. "Hanna Promo" (1080p) is a promo that runs for 1 minute 28 seconds. It's an advertising puff piece, nothing more. The Universal disc is also equipped with some BD-Live access, Pocket BLU functionality, and is also D-Box encoded. A digital copy is also included, this time a code printed on a piece of paper sipped into the packaging rather than the additional disc seen previously.
Packaging
Initial pressings of this disc are packed with a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
The film review was originally published on the blog Rockets and Robots are Go! by Andy James. The A/V and supplements were reviewed by Noor Razzak.
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