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| Scene from Hanna |
Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.
Over the past few years, Amazon has developed a certain reputation with their hour long dramas. Starting with the popular sci-fi series The Man in the High Castle, the streaming service has made a name for themselves by highlighting espionage tales that appeal to those who enjoy a little mystery with their binge watching capabilities. It was also true of the service's biggest new hit of 2018, Homecoming, which also played up the mystery elements. It only makes sense then why they would choose to adapt another story to the big screen. In this case, it's the 2011 action drama Hanna about a child spy who goes on a journey to discover her true identity. What made the film stand out was its subtext of fairy tale elements complimented by a Chemical Brothers score that skewered the childish melodies through house beats.
To say the least, Hanna's first episode that premiered after the Super Bowl doesn't feel that much like a tonally consistent adaptation. While the story is still in place, there's still some sense that the show wants to be darker, or at least less embracing of the fairytale elements. The opening scene finds Erik Heller (Joel Kinnaman) stealing a baby from a lab where she is about to be burned. It's followed by the first of many action scenes throughout, all featuring some sort of chase through the woods and last second saves. It's everything that an opening scene would need to have, especially when piling on the tragic backstory and the idea that this will be a darker story and one that will have to stray from the film if it wants to last for more than a season.
Esme Creed-Miles plays the titular Hanna who spends most of the episode in some form of training with Erik. There's a push to make her more than just another girl. Among Creed-Miles' first scenes is the iconic opening of Hanna where she shoots a deer. The moment lacks the wit of the film, maybe in part because the series doesn't share that same eccentric tone. Agent Marissa Wiegler (Mireille Enos) has yet to convey a hammy moment that made Cate Blanchett so magnetic and offbeat. The show is about making things as serious as possible, and it suffers a bit from it. It's not enough to call the show's transition from film a bad thing, but it does make one wonder if there will be joy and personality to the show. Maybe it's just the way that Amazon prefers things, especially with their other mystery shows earning big audience turnouts.
Was the film worthy of a TV adaptation? It's not too out of the question to say that a child spy story has a lot of potential if the actor is good enough. Creed-Miles has a lot of charm throughout her time onscreen and she manages to convey a lot of quick thinking in scenes of peril. There's a sense that the audience is only starting to understand the emotional depth of Hanna (which was true of the movie too) and that future episodes will allow her to become more sympathetic and human. For now she is impersonal because that is the environment that she was raised in. She has no model for conveying happiness. All she knows how to do is survive, and the episode portrays that effectively even as it hits a familiar beat. It's not clear that it should've been adapted, but it seems overdue. The only logical reason why not was that the film hasn't held onto the zeitgeist as tightly as it should've. Beyond that, it's got potential if it can find a way to be more than droll action.
Hanna is a decent pilot that covers all of the familiar bases for fans of the movie. It has yet to rewrite too much of the central plot, and that is both a relief and a bit concerning. Can the show become more than a dryer, less interesting version of the film? One can hope though the film often does the plot beats better thanks to a more charismatic cast. Still, the pilot episode is far from a failure and if anything gives room for potential improvement. Maybe the darker tone will eventually gel with the path that the story takes. Maybe it will be even more popular because of it. It's hard to say. What can be said is that there's enough here that looks good but nothing that is inherently great either. Hanna is a great premise with too much potential to ever truly fail. The trick is to make it into something essential. Amazon has proven that they're capable of cracking the code. Let's hope they can do it again, and with a far livelier soundtrack than what we've heard so far.
To say the least, Hanna's first episode that premiered after the Super Bowl doesn't feel that much like a tonally consistent adaptation. While the story is still in place, there's still some sense that the show wants to be darker, or at least less embracing of the fairytale elements. The opening scene finds Erik Heller (Joel Kinnaman) stealing a baby from a lab where she is about to be burned. It's followed by the first of many action scenes throughout, all featuring some sort of chase through the woods and last second saves. It's everything that an opening scene would need to have, especially when piling on the tragic backstory and the idea that this will be a darker story and one that will have to stray from the film if it wants to last for more than a season.
Esme Creed-Miles plays the titular Hanna who spends most of the episode in some form of training with Erik. There's a push to make her more than just another girl. Among Creed-Miles' first scenes is the iconic opening of Hanna where she shoots a deer. The moment lacks the wit of the film, maybe in part because the series doesn't share that same eccentric tone. Agent Marissa Wiegler (Mireille Enos) has yet to convey a hammy moment that made Cate Blanchett so magnetic and offbeat. The show is about making things as serious as possible, and it suffers a bit from it. It's not enough to call the show's transition from film a bad thing, but it does make one wonder if there will be joy and personality to the show. Maybe it's just the way that Amazon prefers things, especially with their other mystery shows earning big audience turnouts.
Was the film worthy of a TV adaptation? It's not too out of the question to say that a child spy story has a lot of potential if the actor is good enough. Creed-Miles has a lot of charm throughout her time onscreen and she manages to convey a lot of quick thinking in scenes of peril. There's a sense that the audience is only starting to understand the emotional depth of Hanna (which was true of the movie too) and that future episodes will allow her to become more sympathetic and human. For now she is impersonal because that is the environment that she was raised in. She has no model for conveying happiness. All she knows how to do is survive, and the episode portrays that effectively even as it hits a familiar beat. It's not clear that it should've been adapted, but it seems overdue. The only logical reason why not was that the film hasn't held onto the zeitgeist as tightly as it should've. Beyond that, it's got potential if it can find a way to be more than droll action.
Hanna is a decent pilot that covers all of the familiar bases for fans of the movie. It has yet to rewrite too much of the central plot, and that is both a relief and a bit concerning. Can the show become more than a dryer, less interesting version of the film? One can hope though the film often does the plot beats better thanks to a more charismatic cast. Still, the pilot episode is far from a failure and if anything gives room for potential improvement. Maybe the darker tone will eventually gel with the path that the story takes. Maybe it will be even more popular because of it. It's hard to say. What can be said is that there's enough here that looks good but nothing that is inherently great either. Hanna is a great premise with too much potential to ever truly fail. The trick is to make it into something essential. Amazon has proven that they're capable of cracking the code. Let's hope they can do it again, and with a far livelier soundtrack than what we've heard so far.
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