I am so into “Hanna.” This movie has everything I look for.
(1) Powerful girl protagonist Hanna, played by Saorise Ronan, is a 16 year old girl who lives with her father, a former spy, out in the wilderness. He has trained her to be a killer in order to protect herself as powerful people would assassinate her on sight.
(2) Evil female villain The bad guy in this movie, another killer, is a girl, played marvelously by Cate Blanchett.
(3) Great acting I already told you the movie stars Ronan and Blanchett. Need I say more? OK, the dad is Eric Bana.
(4) Great story Usually, on Reel Girl, I don’t mind spoiling stories. I analyze them so I can’t help it. But, I’m not going to tell you this one because so few people have seen the movie. I’ll just say that I love how the narrative is interwoven with Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The symbolism and the filming is beautiful.
(5) Female friendship Hanna makes a friend and their relationship is complex and real.
This movie is violent. More violent than “Hunger Games.” Like “Hunger Games” the camera doesn’t linger over the gore. I let my 10 year old watch it and it’s on my list of recs for 10 and up, but as I’ve written a lot here, I want my daughter to see females with power and agency. If your kid gets scared in movies, this is not the film for her.
Reel Girl rates “Hanna” ***HHH***
English is not my native language and i don’t mind bad accents.So even that 1% doesn’t exist for me 🙂
HitGirl is a great character, the only female teenage superhero in US films today.
http://8tracks.imgix.net/i/000/585/186/hg2-8698.jpg?q=65&sharp=15&vib=10&fm=jpg&fit=crop
I stumbled across this movie accidentally while writing an article about kick-ass kid hero(e)(ine)s and it was a great find. Well worth the watch; Blanchett’s accent is appalling but it ruins like 1% of the movie, if that.
Hanna does has 2 females against each other but this has nothing to do with
appearance or competing for a man. Basically it has nothing to do with their gender.
Margot as the one who recommended it I’m happy you saw it and loved it 🙂
I don’t care much about the accent-this is not the point in this film.The point is a that its about a girl who is powerful,complex and KICKS ASS.
This is what i wrote
“””””’Hanna’ is the only movie made in the west where the lead is a teenage female super-heroine AND the film is named after her.Unlike the 2 sloppy,halfhearted US films with lead female superheroes (the mediocre Elektra and the terrible Catwoman with Halle Berry) the UK/German made ‘Hanna’ is a serious-and very entertaining-solid piece of European filmmaking.Hanna doesn’t wear a suit but her character is essentially a teenage Black Widow.And Saoirse Ronan is perfect for the role she’s both eerie and ferocious.The main villain is also female (Cate Blanchett) and Hanna’s best friend is female as well (a teen girl).
http://news.worldsnap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Hanna_Movie.jpg“””””
Hi Mecano,
Thank you so much for the rec! GREAT movie.
Margot
I noticed you ask about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in your Facebook page.You can ask me whatever you want about Asian/wuxia films.You can email me if you want- i have a very big collection of wuxia movies.
PS there is no sex scene in Tiger/Dragon.Its fine for a 10 yo.
I sometimes have a problem with the “evil female villains” because a lot of movies that are about women have some element that is about appearance or competing for a man so it ends up falling into the idea that women can’t get along and always have to be rivals. However, I’m encouraged by the female friendship you mentioned. I might have to check this one out. I skipped it because I heard some not so great things about Cate Blanchett’s accent in this movie.
Hi Cat,
the accent is not good, it comes and goes. Agree with what you say about female villains, but I like how she is a killer and in power professionally. I think you will like this movie.
Margot