Hanna

Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Jessica Barden

Dir. Joe Wright
Scr. Seth Lochhead & David Farr

Loved, loved, loved this film. This nutty, disturbing, amusing, visually stunning film. A fine cast on fine form, with the best and loudest soundtrack (by the Chemical Brothers) you’ll hear all year. Director Joe Wright does a superb job telling this strange fairytale of revenge. Highly recommend for those who are looking for something a little different.

Hanna (Ronan) is a teenage girl quite unlike any other. Brought up in the Finnish wilderness to be the perfect assassin by her ex-CIA father, Erik (Bana), Hanna has uncanny strength, stamina and speed. Judging her ready for her ultimate mission, Erik leaves Hanna to be captured by the CIA and finally enter the real world. Revenge is the end goal and Blanchett’s Marissa is the target – a ruthless CIA agent with secrets she is intent on keeping buried. Along the way Hanna is intrigued and thrilled by the world she discovers, wonder sparkling in Ronan’s stunning blue eyes. This is not a happy tale and what Hanna finds out about her past is truly disturbing. Tense, action-packed and at times wonderfully bemusing, Hanna is truly compelling.

Wright really does lift this movie from mere action to something strange and wonderful. A dark and disturbing fairytale of the true European tradition. His action sequences are frenetic and often wonderfully frightening. But what he does best are Hanna’s moments of discovery – whether it is her first encounter with electricity, her first true friend, her realisation that reading about music was no substitute for experiencing the real thing. The story itself might feel a little lightweight and the moments of explanation are certainly a little jarring, but I forgave much for the way that Wright managed to make this movie feel. The wonderfully emotive score by the Chemical Brothers didn’t hurt either.

The acting on offer in Hanna is very good indeed. Blanchett’s Marissa is a little hammy but superbly cold and calculating. She made me shudder. Bana gives a solid and emotive performance as Hanna’s father and mentor. Hollander, playing a hired gun employed to find Hanna, is wonderfully camp and ruthless. Quite an entertaining and surreal combination. There’s a wonderful turn by young Barden as Sophie, a young English girl who befriends Hanna. But the true star of the show is Ronan – her performance is simply exceptional and well worth the price of admission. Her combination of innocence and murderous intent is spot-on.

This is a highly stylised film which may well turn some viewers off. Cries of style over substance might be bandied about. But I recommend you just get lost in Hanna and let it take you on a suspenseful and surreal ride.

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Hanna: I just missed your heart.