Hanna

Hanna

Directed By: Joe Wright

Written By: Seth Lochhead

Produced By: Leslie Holleran, Marty Adelstein, Scott Nemes

Cast: Soairse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana

Plot: Hanna (Ronan) is a 16 year old girl who has lived in the wilderness with her father Erik (Bana) all of her life. Erik has trained her as an assassin, her target, is the woman who killed her mother, a corrupt CIA agent (Blanchett)

Hanna is like a teenage version of The Bourne Series. But it isn't a translation of the successful Bourne Series for teenagers, it is something new. Its gritty, edgy with twists and turns, and has enough action to make Bruce Willis jealous. Joe Wright succeds in weaving elements of fairy tales into the story, creating a rather eerie atmosphere throughout the film, which is extremely difficult in an action movie, but it works tremendously.

Soairse Ronan is completely mesmerizing and easily outshines the rest of the cast in emotion, ability and sharpness.

The idea for the film is rather outlandish and slightly surreal, but Joe Wright makes the film seem completely real in terms of the story, the locations and even the camera angles. Because we experience the film through the eyes of Hanna, we see our world from the perspective of someone who has never left a forest. It is quite an edgy experience. Hanna is musically accompanied by The Chemical Brothers, who deliver fast, pulsating tracks along with creepy, almost pretty tunes. Their music rounds of the film quite nicely.

The film is a mix of arthouse cinema, and a mainstream action film. Which surprisingly, is a perfect combination. It is a very slick spy/coming of age film, which is very unusual but works superbly.

However, there should've been a little more depth into the characters back story. (Who is Marissa? where did she come from? why is she this cold?) The film does hint for a sequel, so who knows, maybe all will be explained.

The film is thoroughly enjoyable, and is a fast paced, edge of your seat, stylish thriller.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Youth In Revolt

Youth In Revolt

Directed By: Miguel Arteta

Written By: Gustin Nash (Based on the book by C.D Payne)

Produced By: David Permut, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein

Cast: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Justin Long, Zach Galifanakis, Steve Buscemi, Erik Knudsen

Plot: Nick Twisp (Cera) leads a very boring life, that is, until he meets Sheeni Saunders. He finds out how far he must go to get the woman who is perfect for him. What he doesn't expect is that to help him do this, he needs an alter ego....

The film has been hailed as Fight Club meets Superbad. Which is most certainly correct. Once again, Michael Cera is in that geeky teenager role that he plays so well. But he also took up the challenge of playing his own alter-ego too. His alter-ego being the super slick, versatile, hilarious character of Francois Dillinger. When he is playing Francois, the film suddenly becomes alot more exciting. The contrast between Nick and his delinquent alter-ego is refreshing is both pleasing and humorous. Because we are unsure of this character we don't know what he is going to do, as he is very impulsive (There are several examples of this in the film)

The film puts itself outside of the usual teen comedy, its edgier, darker, and hilarious. It does take a little while to get going, but once its going it is funny, fast paced and easy to watch. The rest of the cast give superb performances. Steve Buscemi had more of a cameo appearance, which was disappointing, but he played his part terrifically. On the whole, Youth In Revolt is an overwhelming success.

However, Michael Cera needs to expand his repertoire, because his films are starting to become the same story over and over again. He needs to find something that is going to rejuvenate his career.

The film has imagination, its charming, slightly pretentious but its enjoyable fun.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Thor

Thor

Directed By: Kenneth Brannagh

Written By: Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne

Produced By: Kevin Feige

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba, Clark Gregg

Plot: The King of Asgard, Odin (Hopkins), banishes Thor (Hemsworth) to Earth after he ignites a war with an old enemy. Thor finds that his hero-like powers can make him a legend.

You would think that a film about Gods, old legends and mystical powers would be bad, terribly cheesy, and not worth watching. If you think that, then you are wrong. Thor is one of many films that Marvel Studios has planned for their big superhero team up, The Avengers (2012) The film has a light hearted feel when he is banished to Earth, however the fish out of water idea is getting a little old.  The scenes set on Earth, apart from the start of the third act, seem to be just to fill in the gaps between the epic battle scenes in Asgard and finding Thor's hammer, which was a bit disappointing.

The film does seem to try and big its self up with its impressive special effects, instead of focusing on the situation at hand. But never the less, the film's plot is quite good, with several twists that you will not see coming. When Chris Hemsworth is on-screen, he is charismatic, has great comic timing, and combining both his and Natalie Portman's performances, is beautiful. Tom Hiddleston's character, Loki, is devious, mischievous and cunning. He portrays this wonderfully, because his performance could've potentially broke this movie if it wasn't serious enough.

But, the film does feel like it is building up all the way through for an epic fight scene, spanning dimensions with bare knuckle brutality. The actual final fight is a little disappointing. But it is still entertaining. The ending to the film also, screams SEQUEL. That is if you watched through to the post-credits scene.

(Tip, with any marvel film, always watch it right through to the very end, they always add a clip for an up-coming project)

Finally, the film is very well directed by Kenneth Brannagh, and many of the cast have said that they wouldn't have taken the role on if it wasn't for Brannagh. I feel that Marvel has built up this film to fit nicely with The Avengers, which hopefully, is the film that these characters have been waiting for.

Written By Eammon Jacobs