Movie Review: Hanna

GRADE: A/B+

The premise of Hanna is, "A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives."


Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement), Hanna is a wonderfully dark film with beautiful screen shots and lots of action. It was filmed on location in Europe and Morocco and the scenery was quite lovely to see. Hanna, played by Saoirse Ronan, is a 16 year old girl being raised by an ex-CIA assassin, her father Erik (played by Eric Bana). Erik has taught Hanna how to hunt, how to defend herself with various weapons and self-defense methods, and home-schooled her with only an encyclopedia and a book of fairy tales.


The bad guy (or woman in this movie) is ruthless intelligence operative Marissa Wiegler (played stunningly by Cate Blanchett). Several times in this movie I kept wondering why this woman was after Hanna. This was revealed later in the movie, but it did keep you guessing what her motive was for about 3/4's of the film. I thought Cate did a wonderful job playing Marissa. She is really an amazing actress and I think a lot of people will see this movie just to see Cate act her butt off as the villainess.


This movie was full of action and intrigue. One can almost feel bad for Hanna, the baby assassin, as she struggles to survive while people keep trying to kill her. I didn't expect to like this movie as much as I did, but I thought it was great. Definitely a must go-see...

Movie Review: The Mechanic

GRADE: A

Who do you call when you have a problem that can't be fixed by ordinary means? Apparently you call The Mechanic.
(Sigh) Man, where do I start? The Mechanic is an action-packed extravaganza of a movie starring Jason Statham as Arthur Bishop. This movie was great. As you can probably pick up from the themes of my reviewed movies, the hubby and I both love action thrillers. I actually called my brother today and told him to go see this movie. Why? Because it's got a lot of shooting, killing, and things blowing up. LOL! That may say something about my psyche but hey, growing up with two brothers kind of led me to a predisposition to love good old fashioned shoot 'em up movies.


The movie also stars Ben Foster as Steve McKenna. You may remember Ben from The Messenger, 3:10 to Yuma, or one of my favorites, X-men: The Last Stand. He did a great job in this movie. I don't think I really realized how good an actor Ben is. He did a great job portraying a tormented and angry young man who appears to be lonely and neglected. I love when actors are so believable that you forget who they are and what you've seen them in prior to the movie you're watching.


If there is a theme in this movie, it is that, "Victory Loves Preparation". Arthur Bishop is a controlled cold-blooded assassin with a strict code and professional detachment in all of his "jobs". This is in direct contrast with Steve McKenna who is a young, impulsive, and angry hot-head. These two had a wonderful onscreen chemistry together. It was really a pleasure watching them.


I didn't realize that this movie was a remake of a 1972 version starring Charles Bronson. Having never seen the older version, I'm not sure if this remake did the original justice, but I did enjoy the new 2011 version. Jason Statham seems to be the new go-to guy for action flicks. Every action movie that he has been in lately has been a pleasure to watch if you are looking for a lot of random things blowing up (LOL). The new version also stars Donald Sutherland as Harry McKenna, Arthur's mentor in the crazy world of being a contract killer.


In my opinion, this movie is a definite must see if you are a fan of action thrillers. I think the movie got mixed reviews from the critics, but both the hubby and I enjoyed it. It was one of those movies that you go to see and at the end of the movie, you sit there in the theater and say, "Dang, that was a good movie". We'll probably be watching it again on DVD when it comes out. Yes, we liked it that much.

"Victory Loves Preparation..."

MOVIE REVIEW: The Green Hornet

Grade: B-

The hubby and I went to see The Green Hornet in 3D this weekend.
The 2011 version is a remake of the television series that starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Brett Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato. The new version stars Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet/Brett Reid and Jay Chou starring as Kato.


We haven't had much luck going to see movies that made the transition from comic book to silver screen (the Ironman & X-men series not counting). However, I thought that this was a pretty good adaptation. I'm not old enough to remember the radio version of the Green Hornet or the television series, however I did see parts of it during Bruce Lee's biography, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. The movie had a lot of really cool guns & cars, nice 3D effects, lots of action, and a surprising amount of humor in it. I think I liked it better than the hubby did...


All in all, I recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of the comic book series or if you just like good action movies with funny one-liners. I give it a thumbs up, the hubby gives it a thumb turned sideways. [LOL!]

MOVIE REVIEW: Tron Legacy

GRADE: A

The hubby and I went to see Tron-Legacy this weekend.
Let me tell you, this movie was fantastic! We saw it at the Imax and had the full "3-D experience". I am now a firm believer that the original Tron was made before its time. The computer graphics were top notch as the main characters merged from the "real world" which showed in regular 2-D cinematics to the Tron world which showed amazingly in 3-D.


For those of you who remember, the original Tron movie was made in 1982. So, it did not come as a surprise to us that the movie theater was packed with viewers in the 30+ range. I don't think I saw a single teeny-bopper at the 7:00 Saturday night showing! Trust me when I say that I was not upset by the lack of adolescent hormones in the theater. [LOL!] Most of the teeny-bopper nation probably couldn't truly appreciate the evolution of the new movie from the old anyway.

The movie was full of beautiful graphics and was jam-packed with lots of action. We thought that the story flowed well from the old to the new and the actors did a superb job of keeping our interest without seeming too trite or overplayed.

All in all, both the hubby and I give this movie two thumbs up. As a matter of fact, we are trying to figure out a way to go see it again! [LOL!] I say that if you even vaguely remember the original movie and would like to see a good futuristic movie full of action and great CGI, then I recommend going to see this movie. Don't be afraid to spend the extra money to see it in 3-D and if your city has an IMAX theater nearby, go go go!