TV Shows #19 - Part 1

Hanna Season One (2019)
Developed By: David Farr Starring: Esme Creed-Miles, Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman, Rhianne Barreto, Justin Salinger, Benno Fürmann, Katharina Heyer, Andy Nyman, Joanna Kulig

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 47-55 Minutes per Episode, 8 Episodes

There haven't been a huge number of films in the last 10-or-so years that I've loved enough to add to my long list of all-time favourites, but one that I did enjoy immensely and have rewatched many times since is Hanna. For those who don't know it (why not?), it's a high-octane chase thriller centred around the unique and highly-skilled 15 year girl of the title. It features a superb central performance from Saoirse Ronan, strong support from the rest of the fine cast including Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, fantastic cinematography, and a great soundtrack, all of which results in a tense and captivating thriller. Suffice to say, anyone producing a TV show based on it would have their work cut out for them. Reassuringly, the man behind it is David Farr who also co-wrote the film, so there's some authenticity, but film-to-TV transitions can still be tricky so I was keen to see how he got on.

I was actually a little surprised to already find Amazon spamming this on their Prime homepage a few weeks back - it wasn't too long ago I heard it announced so I assumed it would be a good while before it was with us, much like their proposed LOTR/Tolkien-based show which I don't think has even started casting yet. Maybe they were in a hurry with this one, but anyway - it's already here!

The title role is obviously the most important one in a show like this, and it was young British actress Esme Creed-Miles who bagged it. Her version of Hanna has a similar origin to the movie version - both were raised in complete solitude by their father who educated them as well as put them through intense survival and combat training. The main difference being that movie Hanna was raised in the desolate snowy wastes of northern Finland while TV Hanna has been hidden in a secluded cave in the middle of a Polish forest. She seems a bit more rebellious than her movie forebear though, for she seems to prefer oafing around and regularly strays beyond the perimeter her father Erik (Kinnaman) has imposed. Due to this, it isn't too long before they're rumbled and have to go on the run separately.

Hanna allows herself to be captured so she might earn a shot at the ghastly Marissa Wiegler (Enos), a CIA agent who according to her father is responsible for the death of her mother. After being taken to a CIA facility in Morocco (for some reason), she kills what turns out to be a decoy before escaping and going on the run too, with the intention of meeting up with her father in Germany. So far, so movie...

From here, things stray a bit from the movie's story, as Erik recruits some of his ex-army buddies and establishes a hideout from which to plan his next move. These plans include dealing with Wiegler, naturally, but the emphasis shifts more to uncovering the truth of Hanna's past and the shady government tomfoolery that set the main characters on their paths. This was undoubtedly done due to the significantly greater run time of the show vs the movie (400-odd mins compared to 111), and as a result the pace is much slower too. This isn't necessarily a bad thing except I don't think they've used the extra time as well as they could have, with much more spent on Hanna's pursuit of teen girly stuff than you might expect, or perhaps even want given her extraordinary nature.

Indeed, as in the film she meets a British family on holiday in Morocco who unknowingly help get her out of harms way, and she befriends the daughter, Sophie (Barreto), who introduces her to booze and boys and partying and all that kind of stuff. It is during these parts that the comparative slowness and slightly meandering nature of the plot becomes more noticeable, but even when we're elsewhere, once the show's plot starts to deviate from that of the film after only a few episodes, it never matches the atmosphere or excitement of the film. There are several reasons for this including the lack of the film's pounding Chemical Brothers soundtrack and the lesser emphasis on action, but the main problem for me is Hanna herself.

Unlike the movie version, she almost never feels special. Don't forget, she has been raised in a forest since she was a baby. Everything she sees, every situation she's in, it's her first time ever, but she rarely shows the sense of wonder, confusion or fear you might expect - she just seems like an almost normal girl for most of the series. She also doesn't seem nearly as proficient when engaging in physical combat as Saoirse Ronan's version of the character, and is therefore less convincing.

However, this is of course all from the perspective of someone who has not only seen the film but also likes it very much. I suspect if you haven't seen it, you'll find little to complain about here. For a relative newcomer, Creed-Miles does very well in the starring role. She has an innocence about her and you'll likely have sympathy for her as she attempts to make sense or who - or what - she actually is, and her desire to experience a normal life for the first time is understandable, even under the circumstances. The rest of the cast are decent too. Kinnamon and Enos are reunited for the first time since The Killing, although this time on opposite sides. They suit their respective roles well though, with the former's single-minded Erik seemingly consumed by the mission at hand while the latter's take on Wiegler is similar to Blanchett's while also expanding on the character, such as the token relationship she leaves hanging to maintain a hint of normality to her life.

There is also a version of Isaacs, the sadistic former agent portrayed menacingly by Tom Hollander in the film. Here he's played by Nyman and renamed Jacobs, but is far less effective, and that kind of sums up the show to be honest. Some of the additional exposition benefits the story and characters, and even the rather boring teen angst adds something to Hanna's character, but fans of the film may still perhaps be left at least a little disappointed, as I was.

Looking at it objectively though, as newcomers to the story will undoubtedly do, it's pretty good. The story and central character remain intriguing, and the potential is there to expand much further on both. It's genuinely unpredictable too, so who knows what direction that could take? I just hope they ramp up the tension and make the show a bit more action-based for the already-confirmed season two.

RKS Score: 6/10