Hanna

Plot

In equal parts high-concept thriller and coming-of-age drama, HANNA follows the journey of an extraordinary young girl raised in the forest, as she evades the relentless pursuit of an off-book CIA agent and tries to unearth the truth behind who she is.

Cast

Esme Creed-Miles leads in a performance that flits between decent and I can't believe they didn't do a retake. Mireille Enos is at a career best, Áine Rose Daly, Dermot Mulroney, Ray Liotta, Joel Kinnaman and a standout performance by Gianna Kiehl.

Verdict

I enjoyed Hanna (2011), though far from flawless it was a well constructed feature and Saoirse Ronan was excellent as was Cate Blanchett. I was hesitant going into this as let's be honest movie to television adaptations have a dreadful track record.

Hanna is wonderful paced, that I'll say out of the gate. If you think the story can't be dragged out across 3 seasons you're mistaken, they do a decent job there.

The cast for the most part are competent though some are more consistent than others, Creed-Miles accent peaks and troughs, this really should have been addressed and not made it to the final product.

It's action packed with a passable enough story and I did enjoy it but though I had no problem binge watching it throughout without boredom I did feel that there was something missing. After much head scratching I came to the conclusion that, I have absolutely no idea what it was! Something just didn't click, the show was enjoyable and was fairly engaging but something just failed to complete the show.

I'd advise people stick with the movie, but on the flipside there are worse shows to throw some hours into.

Rants

IMDB is known for not vetting reviews very well but yeesh, check out the 1/10 ones. People who haven't even watched the show reviewing, people who bailed after an episode thinking they can have an opinion on the show, countless one line reviews and stupidity like "I just finished episode 1 and I have no idea what any of the characters look like. Just sat there listening, staring at a black screen." and "Hate White Men, This is for You!, If you think all men should die, more so white men but Blackmon as well, then this show is for you. Guys, if your wife or girlfriend likes this show, I would sleep with one eye open".

Time for IMDB to start vetting better or the IMDB community to grow up.

The Good

Mireille Enos Gianna Kiehl Soundtrack Great pacing

The Bad

Esme Creed-Miles's performance can be pretty poor at times Not as engaging as it should be.

Something is missing.

Season one was great. I was hooked with every episode and the character development was great. Season 2 seems to be pretty bad. Its very redundant and decisions are made that frustrate you beyond belief. Shame cause this series was so good it's first season.

I just finished watching season 2 and I really liked it! I won't compare it with the first season because it has been a while since I've watched it but I would say that it felt almost at the same level, although the story took a different direction. But hey, it's a new season! And I really hope that Amazon keeps it up with more and longer seasons. It's a fairly good mix of drama, action, thriller and many unexpected turns. I found myself really caring about what happens to some characters, seriously annoyed about the decisions of others and often on the edge of my seat, so to speak. Compared to so many average and boring shows available today, this is refreshingly entertaining. Esme Creed-Miles did an excellent job, as well as all the supporting artists.

It doesn't happen often, but this series gets a 9 from me while the 2011 movie gets an 8. And that's saying something since I'm a huge fan of Saoirse Ronan, who played Hanna in the film version. Esme Creed-Miles is very effective in the role of the highly-skilled yet "fish-out-of-water" Hanna, and the supporting cast are also quite convincing. Perhaps an obvious fact (given that there's much more time available) but I feel that this series fleshes out the various characters more than was possible in the movie, which allowed me to become more invested in them. My only complaint is minor, but the production team clearly spent less money by filming a lot of scenes at night, so I'd suggest watching in a dark room if you want to understand what's going on during those moments. Keep an eye out for future roles played by Esme as I predict she's got quite a career ahead of her. I was also captivated by Rhianne Barreto, who very believably plays Hanna's one true friend. The direction, scoring, location scenery, and cinematography (albeit a bit dark at times) are impressive. Highly-recommended binging material.

I've reviewed each season of "Hanna", which can be found against the final episode of each run - but I thought I'd put something here too, so sum up my overall thoughts.

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.

I enjoyed the first season of "Hanna" more than I thought I might, with its strong performances and coherent plotting. The second season expands the universe a little, but without sacrificing any of it's core strengths. It's took me a while to get around to season three of "Hanna", around a year in fact since this final season arrived on Amazon Prime. It's through no fault of the show though, as I've enjoyed the previous two runs. This too, was a worthy season and rounds out a series that was much better than I thought it might be.

It surprisingly rare to see a series as consistent as "Hanna" with a true beginning, middle and end.