Hanna Season 1 (2019) Review

The second season of the show hits Amazon Prime this Friday, so in preparation I went back and watched the whole first season and here is my review for it. The premise of the show sees a young girl get raised by her father in the woods, she is an expert in combat but has no idea exactly how, that changes when they are both forced to go on the run. 

Main Character

Esme Creed-Miles plays Hanna and I thought she did a really good job here. She is a young girl who really lacks emotion and people skills and that works really well for her character, you can just see part of her just wants to be a normal teenager but for a reason she doesn't know she isn't allowed to be which makes you care about her. Also the action scenes are great, she is great in them and you really see her as this emotionless killer which for a young actress is very impressive. 

Supporting Characters

Joel Kinnaman plays her father and he is truly great here, I haven't seen anything from him before that really stood out but it works here. He is a truly conflicted character, you see he struggles all the way through the show between his daughter and his own motivations and it is handled really well and again does a really good job in making you care. Mireille Enos plays an antagonist here and I thought she was really good in her role, again she isn't a generic character, she has depth and an emotional backstory that makes you question whether we should truly dislike her. But there are some really weak characters and performances, the character of Sophie is truly awful, the performance and character are awful and the family she is with are all awful too. It takes away from the show and hurts the overall enjoyment factor of what is going on. 

Story

The story here is really interesting, seeing this girl trying to balance her life between violence and normal is compelling. The relationship between Hanna and her father is also really well done, it is intriguing and keeps you on your toes throughout. Also the finale is great adding much intrigue and nailing its atmosphere really well. But as I mentioned there is this British family which bogs the show down, I get their purpose but it really doesn't work due to really poor acting and writing and it also feels like that part of the story doesn't exactly have a finish to it. 

Script

The script has some really good dramatic dialogue here, you feel the emotion and it makes you care about the more important characters. There isn't much humour to it, which feels right given the main characters but again that middle part of the story involving that British family tries it and it just feels out of place in this normally serious show. 

Style

The style of the show is great and really unique, it has a scandanavian style to it and it really works. The action scenes are brutal and really well shot here adding to the grit of it all. The score and cinematography also do a great job of sucking you into this world.

Overall

Overall, this is a good first season of the show, with some great potential and action scenes that hit the edge. With a bit more focusing up the 2nd season could be a truly brilliant show.

Rating - 7/10