Reviews

Hanna is a film directed by Joe Wright who previously directed Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, to which she received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It is great to see the two of them working together again.

What I admired about Hanna was how the opening scene is significant and is later on revisited at the end of the film. We are introduced to Saoirse Ronan's character, Hanna, who in the first scene is hunting a deer. She shoots the deer with an arrow and approaches the dying animal and says "I just missed your heart", there is remorse and sadness in her voice and without hesitation she pulls out her gun and ends its misery. At the end of the film she shoots Cate Blanchett's character, Marissa, with another arrow. Hanna fixates her cold eyes on the bleeding body and once again says, but this time without any remorse or sadness, "I just missed your heart", and shoots her with her gun –film ends. I really appreciated and found it clever as to what the director and writers did with these two scenes. Hanna saw Marissa as 'the hunted' just as she hunted the deer in the beginning; but her feelings towards the two, as she shot them, differed from each other.

Saoirse Ronan, who plays Hanna, is remarkable and full of rare talent. Her accent in this film or in any film for that matter is accurate and clear-cut. Not too long ago I discovered that she actually has an Irish accent. I've seen her previous films such as Atonement and The Lovely Bones and I have come to enjoy seeing her take on these disturbing roles. She seems to take on characters that are usually troubled and have something dark surrounding them which is quite a mature move for such a young actress. I adore her dedication and seriousness when it comes to choosing particular roles in film.

Continuing on with the film, I liked how Hanna and her father, Erik (Eric Bana), were introduced. We were given a montage of Hanna training with her father. The scene where her father asks her to speak in three different languages just blew my mind. Saoirse Ronan was believable when she spoke in Italian, Arabic and Spanish; all of which was convincing and what made the film for me. Another thing that made this film outstanding was the soundtrack! Every time a scene was about to break into action, you would hear an electronic score. It made the film all the more exciting, especially in one scene when Hanna fights her way out of a facility; you hear the electronic rock music start to play and your heart starts to pound to the beat of it.

One part of the film that I was very fond of was when Hanna was on the run from the intelligence agent and trying to rendezvous with her father in Berlin. While on the run she was introduced to an unfamiliar world. She became stowaway in a family's RV and was able to experience, even if it were for a day or two, the life of a regular kid. She was raised in the forest since she was a baby and grew up never knowing of what it is like to have a friend or to laugh with a family and to spend time with and (almost) kiss a boy! She was deprived of all this and it was nice to see her enjoy her youth, even if it were only for a few moments.

I suggest you see this film for yourself. Cate Blanchett is always incredible in her films and I find her quite eerie and ruthless in this film as the intelligence agent, Marissa. Eric Bana had a few scenes in which he was able to show off his fighting skills and they were undoubtedly entertaining, I mean have you seen him in Troy? But overall if you're going to see this film, it really has to be for Saoirse Ronan. She is an exquisite actress and has this peculiar and unnatural look about her but I think it absolutely works with every character and role she plays in a film.

Source Code begins by jumping right into the action which was an excellent approach to starting off the film; it kept the audiences' attention and at the edge of their seats. Instantaneously the viewers were filled with questions and assumptions as to the identity of the bomber. We are first introduced to Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wakes up on the train confused and disoriented and seated across from Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan). From then on it jumps back and forth from the real world to the 'source code' where Jake's character fights to not only find clues about the bomber, but as to how and why he was put on this mission. Coming into the theater I assumed that the film would only focus on locating the bomber but the film is given several layers such as Colter Stevens' history in the military and the relationship that progresses between him and Christina Warren. Ultimately what drives Jake's character is saving Christina and the other passengers on the train, but it is, at the beginning of the film, made clear that the source code is a shadow and a glimpse into eight minutes and therefore impossible to alter the past.

The director and writers did a great job in developing the storyline and the characters. I had fears that the film would become repetitive since Jake's character had to keep going back into the source code and was only given eight minutes each time he entered; but every time he went in something different would transpire and the storyline would develop more and more. There were many twists and turns in the film that made it all the more exciting and engaging! And with an ending that will leave a clever smile across your face.

Jake Gyllenhaal as always entertained the audience on the big screen. The comedic moments he was given in the film is the Jake-like-humor we LOVE seeing in other films such as Love and Other Drugs. When he needed to be intense and extreme he delivered; when he needed to be funny or compassionate he was proficient in doing so! This film was exhilarating, thrilling and mind boggling! It is fresh and different from any other thriller I've seen. Some may compare it to Christopher Nolan's Inception but it's a different take on the use and capabilities of the mind.