Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander and Olivia Williams
Directed by: Joe Wright
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language
Genre: Action Thriller
Running Time: 1 hr 51 min
Opening Date: April 8, 2011
Distributed by: Focus Features
By John Delia
The movie Hanna has a lot of relentless action and for that the adrenaline seekers will be grateful. It has Saoirse Ronan and her tough sweetness surly blisters the screen. Beautifully photographed, nicely acted and directed, but the storyline didn’t move me.
The film centers on Hanna a 16-year-old pubescent young lady who has spent most of her life in seclusion being trained to kill by he father Erik, an ex-CIA agent. She’s near the end of her critical education and has been allowed to make a decision, whether to continue to be in hiding or take on a task laid out by her father. When she decides to take the mission, her whole world starts to change, including her desire to be a teenager.
While the acting here is admirable, the script insists on being a hackneyed rehash of several movies that come to mind. The never-ending story attempts to take you on a roller-coaster ride of martial arts fighting, narrow escapes and a relentless chase by Marissa (Cate Blanchett- horribly miscast for the character she plays), a ruthless intelligence operative. But, the trip gets obviously predictable early one and once you figure out why Hanna is so valuable, it’s not fun anymore.
I will say that the cinematography of the wintry landscape, amazing night shots, great close-ups of Ronan and a lot of exciting fight scenes makes the film ‘watchable’.  That is if you are a male teen who probably doesn’t care about the story anyway. There’s one particular scene that really caught my attention, however; it’s a confrontation between Hanna and troops sent to take her down in her snowy woodsy home.
The hard-pounding soundtrack is also very good and adds a lot of excitement to the film. Special effects also play a big role in the film even though some of the green screen shots tend to be laughable. Choreography of the fight and chase scenes almost makes the fighting look real, that is until you don’t see a mark on Hanna, almost never.
Eric Bana does his level best to keep the plot real as does Tom Hollander as a very nasty hired hit man. But, nothing can save the film from a disastrous time line, including impossible appearances by Marissa who can get halfway across a continent in a matter of minutes in her nicely pressed skirt and blouse.
Hanna is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language. You know, most of the stuff that male teens want to share with their buddies.