Before the ball dropped in New York City to give light to this year of 2012, I watched the film Hanna on DVD. My comments contain spoilers, so read no further if you plan to watch Hanna and hate spoilers.
On the filmmaking side, I thought it was great. (Of course, after sitting through the disaster that was The Adventures of Tintin, almost any movie feels like a relief to watch.) The cinematography and editing were continuously engaging, helping us understand Hanna’s state of mind throughout. It even had an excellent long shot of a man being surrounded by attackers and then fighting them off. I love long shots. The pacing was fantastic; we go from moments of exciting fights, whether they’re with fists, knives, or guns, to calm quiet meditative moments. The use of music was quite fun.
On the story side, I thought it was a bit weaker. Strands of the story were drawn out so much that they became thin and boring; the progression was just too slow. Even so, it wasn’t so bad that didn’t work at all. But it made one really fatal flaw.
The fatal flaw of the movie was, I think (and here’s the spoiler), when Eric, who we thought was Hanna’s father, reveals that Hanna was born in a research facility. Hanna is actually the result of genetic manipulation, genetically engineered to be a skilled and ruthless killer. Woah! Suddenly this is a sci-fi movie? Suddenly we must accept the possibility of such successful biotech? It’s just too unexpected to have any emotional value. And since the revelation was made at the climax of the movie, our acceptance of anything at that moment is pretty vital for the rest of the movie to work. The revelation ruins it.
How would I fix it? (It’s a question any wannabe storyteller should ask themselves when critiquing other works of fiction.) I would start the film with Hanna already knowing everything revealed in Eric’s revelation. That way, we (the audience) would have to accept the farfetched sci-fi genetic engineering right from the get go; we’d know that this is the sort of story where that kind of science is possible. The rest of the story, then, would be about Hanna coming to terms with the nature of outside world with what she knows about her own nature. Can she mix in? Can she be “normal”? What is “normal” anyway? Would she really want it? Is Hanna’s assassination plan worth the trouble? Was the genetic engineering morally OK? You’d have to pick a certain theme about the conflict of her nature and a normal person’s nature and stick with it, but I think it would’ve made for a much more engaging story from start to finish. Leaving the genetic engineering to be a “surprise” just doesn’t work.