Before there was The Hunger Games, there was a movie called Hanna, pitting a young woman against an unforgiving world. Hanna is unique in it's storytelling, with few exceptions, tailoring the girl to meet the demands of this seemingly dystopian world.
Hanna, played by Saoirse Ronan, is trained and raised by Erik Heller (Eric Bana), her dad, as an assassin. Her amazing abilities, shown throughout the film, throw into question just what she was made for and if there can be a life outside of everything she's known. The movie sets Hanna off on a mission across Europe, but she quickly learns she's being tracked by some very shady, and powerful people led by Cate Blanchett.
I think Hanna might get a bit of a disservice now that we've all watched Katniss Everdeen prove her worth with a bow and arrow, survival skills, and fire to stay alive. All of these qualities will show up in the character Hanna, but if you allow yourself to believe this 16 year-old girl has to do all of the horrible things she does because she's forced to, I think you'll find a brilliant movie. And I think that's the best part about this movie; Hanna's been raised all alone by her father, in the wilderness, training, getting ready, but when it comes time, she's forced out into the "real world" without her lifeline nearby.
Overall, Hanna is, at the very least, a great cat-and-mouse style movie, and with Cate Blanchett hot on our hero's heels, you know it's going to be a good one.
I'm always a sucker for the spy/secret agent style of movies, so when I heard about Haywire, I knew I had to watch it. Think of Haywire like the female version of a James Bond film - yeah, it's that good. Granted, you've probably seen at least half a dozen of these kinds of films before; Jason Bourne, James Bond, etc., etc. But I think Haywire, despite these pillars of the spy genre, does a great job of holding its own.
Haywire is star-studded, with Gina Carano, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and Antonio Banderas, all thrown together in this fast-paced, action thriller. What first drew me to this movie was Gina as the leading lady; as a MMA fighter, I thought this would either be really good, or really bad. Wrestlers, with a small group of exceptions (The Rock), tend to be, let's say, over-dramatic, but Gina managed to pull off both the action movie star, as well the sexy, undercover agent, and do it well.
I wish I could tell you Haywire is purely original, and in some regards, it is. Regardless of the influences you may see in it, or be able to predict certain things happening based on seeing this style of movie before, I think Haywire does a great job of keeping you on your toes with both the action, and the story line - oh, and not to mention the fantastic casting choices, driving it along. At the end of the day, Haywire would make a fantastic addition to your ever growing collection of spy and action/thriller movies, for everyone else, if you can keep up, you'll be in for a great ride.
Imagine the end of the world happening in a cataclysmic, frozen bang. Now imagine the sole survivors of this new ice age being trapped in a mile long express train. Thus is the scenario of Snowpiercer, a post-apocalyptic movie, which, by the way, is based off a series of French graphic novels bearing the same name, except in French. Did I also mention they're two versions of the film? The original Snowpiercer was released in 2013 - in South Korea. The 2014 version, however, was released here in the states and starred Chris Evans.
Snowpiercer does a lot of things right, including my personal favorite, setting the world stage. Think of this train like the districts in The Hunger Games, all crammed into a couple of boxcars. It's this realistic, gritty approach to the 1% and those who aren't that make Snowpiercer, and its cast, fun to get behind. Without spoiling much, Chris Evans is the reluctant hero stuck with the muck of society, all the way at the end of the train. Here, the passengers work to make ends meet, and they're lucky to even get that. Served up a questionable slab of flubber-like substance for food, the passengers (read prisoners) don't have much to live for, which is the point the upper classes, those up further on the train, want them to believe. But all it takes is the right spark to start a fire, and in this case, that spark revolves around Chris Evan's character.
I really enjoyed Snowpiercer. Sure, it was a little weird; after all, it's a post-apocalyptic movie, so it has to be a little strange. I think if you're into movies like The Hunger Games, or just those kinds of movies where justice is being bought instead of divvied out to all, then this will be right up your alley. Pick it up over the weekend and let me know what you think.
