Hanna, the Amazon Studios series, whose first episode of eight episodes was launched on March 29th, has attracted the audience from Romania. From the very first scene, we see a fictional version of our country (filming actually took place in Poland), in 2003, when the hero, Erik Heller (Joel Kinnaman), infiltrates a secret laboratory to save a baby. 15 years later, Heller and adolescent Hanna (Esme Creed-Miles) live in the corners of Poland, where the girl learns to survive in the toughest conditions but also to face those who will die.
If the subject seems familiar to you, well, it is, because the first two episodes of the series retreat the Hanna movie in 2011, where the title role was played by Saoirse Ronan, and in the one of the father I saw Eric Bana. The 2011 scriptwriter, British David Farr (who has done the laugh of The Night Manager meanwhile) has grasped the potential of the story to transform into a series of seasons, and the result was released on March 29th. The series solves one of the great drawbacks of the movie, which showed the teenage heroine finally confronting the CIA agent (Cate Blanchett) ready for anything to catch.
Although those who have seen the movie will have difficulty going through the first episodes of the show, they will still appreciate how the new script continues the story, revealing new details and adding new layers to the intriguing conspiracy. Farr uses flashbacks from the past (many of them with the action located in Romania, as Hanna’s mother, Johanna Petrescu, is Romanian), and the audience in the country will have the opportunity to see the old Dacia 1310 adorned with the screen, Quiet or documents that are familiar with typing addresses. Mentioning extremely powerful politicians and a corporation created specifically to carry out a mysterious program will spur even more curiosity, even if it pushes the story on a very familiar ground.
The series could be more attractive to viewers who did not see the 2011 movie, and Hanna, a heroine with more than surprising and inspiring skills used in the story, is also the main asset. Esme Creed-Miles is also convincing in action scenes in which he effectively performs the armies of opponents but also in discovering the simple fun of life in an attempt to recover at least part of his adolescence or, more importantly, who and why she killed their mother and now she’s ready to kill her too.
Mireille Enos, whose most successful criticism is still the excellent AMC The Killing series, takes over the much-humanized role of Marissa Wiegler, the agent who has everything to lose if the mystery of existence Hannah emerges. It is a classic confrontation in stories like “all against everyone”, with Erik, Hanna and a few acolytes confronting the impressive forces at Wiegler’s reach and devastating it with complex plans.
With little rhythm problems (do we really need to see so many characters slowly climb the stairs of a building to create tension?), Hanna has some features that draw him in front of her, compared to the many other action-packed action series places. The combination of exotic locations (Morocco, Spain) and metropolis (Berlin, London), the effectiveness of violent scenes, the ties to Romania and the charisma of the unlikely heroine will give the audience enough reasons to keep an episode after the episode.
Watch the trailer below:
