Deadfall.

This is a movie where Australian actor Eric Bana really nails the part of the homicidal maniac, Addison, a killer who lets nothing or no one stand in his way after a botched escape following a robbery with his sister Liza (the beautiful Olivia Wilde who you will remember as model Suzy Miller in Rush (2013)). The opening scene involves a brilliantly staged car crash in the ice and snow which some how the siblings manage to survive, Addison kills a State Trooper who stumbles on the crash and he and his sister go on the run, each going there own separate way.

Directed by the Oscar nominated Austrian director and screenwriter Stefan Ruzowitzky and written by Zach Dean, Deadfall (2012) boast’s a strong cast. As well as Bana and Wilde we have English actor Charlie Hunnam as the ex-boxer Jay Mills who has been just finished a prison sentence for fixing a fight.  When he goes to collect the money he’s owed for ‘staying down’ he gets into a brawl with his ex-coach and has to make a quick exit after he thinks he’s killed the man. Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson play June and Chet Mills, Jay’s parents who live in a large remote family house virtually on the Canadian border. Kate Mara plays the local deputy Sheriff, Hannah, friend of the Mills family who June has invited to Thanksgiving. One gets the impression quite early on in the film that all roads lead to this family home!

The brother....

 

.... the sister.

The cold icy landscape becomes one more character in this ultra violent thriller, a cross between a dark modern day noir and a western on snowmobiles. The script’s central theme appears to be ‘the family’, or should I say that it attempts to defy the American assumption that family is something that’s always perfect! Firstly the siblings have a borderline incestuous relationship that probably started when Addison killed their abusive father to save his sister from his drunken advances. Although Jay’s parents appear to have a loving relationship, Chet has no time for his son. This effective B-movie with an A-list cast is enjoyable up to a point but certainly lacks the thrust of Fargo (1996), which the critics have compared it to. But saying that I think its still worth a look.

Hanna

Hanna enjoying a spot of home schooling. 

After experiencing two of Joe Wright’s previous directorial outings, the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen romantic drama Pride and Prejudice and Atonement (2007) which was also a period drama this time an adaptation of a Ian McEwan’s romantic/war drama. His latest movie is, as they say, something completely different, Hanna (2011) is an action packed suspense thriller starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. The intriguing plot involves a young girl (Ronan) that was brought up in the depths of a Finland forest to be that rare commodity, a perfect assassin! Raised and trained by her father Eric Heller (Bana) a disgraced ex CIA agent, Hanna is finally ready to tackle her fathers demons in the outside world. As she travels across Europe on her mission agents of the ruthless intelligence officer, and Heller’s old boss Marissa Wiegler played by the versatile Cate Blanchett, pursue her, which involve some very exciting chase sequences. Hanna is eventually forced to face up to some startling revelations about her very existence!

Agent Marissa Wiegler not a women to cross!!

A polished attempt by Wright to try something different, with a young actress you just can’t ignore, pure entertainment that works very well and along with the original innovative score composed by the British duo The Chemical Brothers makes an enjoyable piece of escapist distraction.