I haven't seen the film version of "Hanna", so came to the Amazon Prime series with a relatively clean slate. (I did watch the remake of "The Killing" so it was nice to see Enos and Kinnaman together again). Though I was concerned about what I thought the premise was, being extended into a show, I found an enjoyable series, with excellent music choices and good performances.
Erik Heller (Joel Kinnaman) rescues a baby and her mother from a covert military facility in Eastern Europe. Pursued by soldiers, they crash their car and the mother is killed, however, Erik and the baby escape into the woods. 15 years later, Erik has brought Hanna (Esme Creed-Miles) up in the wilderness, infusing survivalist skills with her already unnaturally heightened senses. However, she's frustrated at the limits of her life and a chance encounter leads the agency, led by Marissa (Mireille Enos), to resume their hunt.
There was lots I found I liked about this series. Coming off the back of watching "Treadstone" I worried that again the plot would prove overcomplicated, dealing as it does with a couple of different time periods and a country hopping story, but none of this was the case. I understood everyone's drives all the way through and though there is a little cross and double cross, all the motivations were explained to us ahead of time. Performances are strong, with Kinnaman and Enos standing out, along, of course with Esme Creed-Miles as the titular character. She plays Hanna wonderfully, like a fish out of water at times, but always on the cusp of snapping back into survivalist mode and killing everyone in the room. I really liked the stuff involving the family, and the excursion to Kent but oddly, my favourite part about the show was the music, lots of Karen O, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but the newly created score music was nice too.
Negatively, there were a couple of times that I'd have thought Hanna would be more confused or overwhelmed by the world around her. She becomes accustomed to other people pretty quickly, especially in a unique circumstance, like a nightclub and doesn't seem to struggle with technology that she hasn't been exposed to in her woodland family home. I'd also say, whilst the execution is excellent, it's not exactly the freshest idea in the world.
It's fun though, and brief enough to tell it's story without the diversions feeling manufactured to fill a run time. Looking forward to cracking on with the newly released second run.
Erik Heller (Joel Kinnaman) rescues a baby and her mother from a covert military facility in Eastern Europe. Pursued by soldiers, they crash their car and the mother is killed, however, Erik and the baby escape into the woods. 15 years later, Erik has brought Hanna (Esme Creed-Miles) up in the wilderness, infusing survivalist skills with her already unnaturally heightened senses. However, she's frustrated at the limits of her life and a chance encounter leads the agency, led by Marissa (Mireille Enos), to resume their hunt.
There was lots I found I liked about this series. Coming off the back of watching "Treadstone" I worried that again the plot would prove overcomplicated, dealing as it does with a couple of different time periods and a country hopping story, but none of this was the case. I understood everyone's drives all the way through and though there is a little cross and double cross, all the motivations were explained to us ahead of time. Performances are strong, with Kinnaman and Enos standing out, along, of course with Esme Creed-Miles as the titular character. She plays Hanna wonderfully, like a fish out of water at times, but always on the cusp of snapping back into survivalist mode and killing everyone in the room. I really liked the stuff involving the family, and the excursion to Kent but oddly, my favourite part about the show was the music, lots of Karen O, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but the newly created score music was nice too.
Negatively, there were a couple of times that I'd have thought Hanna would be more confused or overwhelmed by the world around her. She becomes accustomed to other people pretty quickly, especially in a unique circumstance, like a nightclub and doesn't seem to struggle with technology that she hasn't been exposed to in her woodland family home. I'd also say, whilst the execution is excellent, it's not exactly the freshest idea in the world.
It's fun though, and brief enough to tell it's story without the diversions feeling manufactured to fill a run time. Looking forward to cracking on with the newly released second run.
