When Electronica is superior to the movie.

"I just missed your heart", says Hanna to the deer.  Joe Wright the director missed mine, too.

The first 15 minutes of Hanna are very promising.   The concept, while familiar, is clever. A 16-year-old girl is raised by his father in the Arctic to be an assassin.  Thanks to homeschooling, she can speak English, German, Italian, Spanish, French and Arabic.  A walking, running, tumbling, weightlifting and rifle-carrying Encyclopedia, too.  The only other book she keeps is The Grimms' Fairytales.  One day, she allows herself to be found by the CIA people.  She's ready for the world and ready to avenge her mother's death. 


The film appears like a mish-mash of Bourne Identity, Leon: The Professional, Kill Bill, Run, Lola, Run, La Femme Nikita, even Sixteen Candles.  But hey, nothing in the world of movies is original anymore.  Besides, Saoirse Ronan's (Lovely Bones and Atonement) cold, asexual stare just draws you in.

Then the movie gets too showy and stylish, lacking the subtlety and restraint of the Bourne series.  But the movie score is superb!   The soundtrack by the electronic group Chemical Brothers is a must-buy.   The last time I was blown away by a soundtrack was more than 30 years ago, when Midnight Express came out.  Giorgio Moroder's synthesizer gave birth to electronica.

Here's a fave music video of the Chemical Brothers, done in 2002 by Michel Gondry who's now an accomplished film director himself (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).  Here, Gondry gives justice to their music.