(2012-04-30 04:24:00)

Have a Good Time!

It's not necessary to suspend disbelief to imagine a government, just about any government, doing nasty things to gain a military advantage over its enemies, and maybe even its friends. Add some high-biotech, beyond state-of-the-art manipulation of basic reproductive material in a weapons-grade experiment that gets out of hand, and we're still not enirely out of the domain of plausibility. Write a slam-bang story based on an admittedly far-fetched rendering of the foregoing premise. Recruit a cast of really fine actors, including those who fill the roles of kids who are, in various winsome ways, precocious but never obnoxious, and you've got a really fun movie. In this case you've got Hanna.As played by Saoirse Ronan, Hanna is an engaging character who combines almost unlimited resourcefulness, a purposefully focused cloak-and-dagger sort of sophistication, and a very believable naivete' in a world that is exciting, dangerous, and wherein she finds genuine friendship and affection. While on the run from the off-handedly evil Marissa (Cate Blanchett) and her henchmen, Hanna joins up with a family headed by a couple of well-meaning and likeable latter day hippies. Their daughter Sophie is about the same early-adolescent age as Hanna, and Sophie's little brother is immediately taken with our pretty and daring protagonist. The family is determinedly accepting of differences of all kinds, and the parents encourage their children to be independent. Even they, however, can't help but notice that Hanna is, well, special.The hippie family provides aid and comfort for Hanna when she needs it most, and the cleverly written story, along with remarkably capable actors, avoids annoying stereotypes that often emerge when dealing with '60's throwbacks. Sophie, Hanna's first real friend, is naturally articulate, self-assured beyond her years, and genuinely funny. Even Sophie, however, is stunned and frightened when she sees for herself what Hanna does to survive the onslaught of the nefarious bureaucrat, Marissa, and her hired assassins, be they jack-booted thugs or more than a little effeminate impresarios.Cate Blanchett is perhaps a bit too bland, maybe even wooden, as an amoral government official. Throughout the movie her voice and accent change in ways and for reasons that are not explained. Erik Bana does a fine job as Hanna's father, as tough as he has to be, but also genuinely loving. His role, too, could have easily collapsed into a tough-but-tender stereotype, but Bana is a better actor than that, and he's working with a really nice screenplay.The movie does not take itself too seriously, and neither should we. Hanna is a fun movie, loaded with excitement, none of which seems gratuitous. Nothing deep or profound here, just a good story, even if it is a bit outlandish, with a lot of action and a really fine cast. Just relax and enjoy it. You may or may not think the ending is happy, but it does seem fitting.

ladymoonpictures

(2012-04-29 15:42:41)

Inconsistencies, Plot Holes Galore_Gets Ridiculous in Berlin!

Spoilers: See first! First off, what's with these so called expertkillers Kate brings into the mix to get the girl? There fat, out ofshape and more like clockwork orange hoodlums, that couldn't win a barfight let alone beat a superior, fighting hybrid! If all the hybrids(for a lack of a better word) had to be 'terminated' and Hanna was thelast left, think about this..., here's Kate keeping up with her, inheels! chasing her and Hanna was not able to put distance between them?The point is: If that's all the hybrid can do, WHY does the U.S. haveto see her dead? (Obviously, she's not all that bloody superior if thatold, British broad is out thinking her! And how do the clockwork orangegoons ever find her in Morrocco? Was that the ONLY seedy, little jointin the whole country that the lugs somehow knew that's the one she'd beat? Give me a break.Why doesn't it reveal whether the British couple and their kids werekilled or not? Anyone who can jump onto an undercarriage of a Humveewhile traveling over them at speed is frankly, CARTOON! And WHY doesEric, after waiting 13-years in hiding near the Arctic Circle, with abeard and long hair, suddenly cut his hair/have to look...EXACTLY likehis file photos, to be instantly recognizable when he leaves theforest? Senseless. And oh BTW, he leaves in suit in sub zero temps.Hello~What in the world were Kate's gums bleeding for? It has nothing to dowith the plot at all! When Eric fights the 3 guys in the vacant space,when the thugs after incredible hesitations, finally do decide to firetheir weapon, Eric had time to through one of them into the line offire and throwing a knife to kill the gunmen. To coin a classic linefrom Eli Wallach about clowns just like these losers..., "If you'regoing to shoot...SHOOT. Don't talk!" Great acting by Hanna, for sure!

Jin Maruhashi

(2012-04-28 07:51:12)

A new scope to an old storyline

"Hanna" takes precise aim with meticulously and uniquely structuredcombat scenes, pulls back the hammer with scattered but entertaininginstances of cold humor and fires the trigger at full power withmind-blowing performances especially from Cate Blanchett and SaoirseRonan. The relentless pursuit for the indefatigable, 16 year-old Hanna(Saoirse Ronan) succeeds in never allowing the spectator to recover hisbreath for even a split second given its persistent delivery ofdisturbing but breathtaking action sequences that transcend asatisfyingly nauseating sensation without resorting to an unrestraineddisplay of cascading bloodbaths. Although it is worth noting that thestoryline is by no means the ne plus ultra of the riveting excitementinduced earlier by the other components of the film. Having anoverpowered protagonist battling the complications created from his(her) abstruse past seems like a standard procedure in severalthrillers. Though slightly unoriginal in its story, the absolutelytalented performance of Cate Blanchett as Marissa Wiegler adds afrighteningly deranged yet alluring touch that will unequivocally setevery spectator writhing in utter fear. Overall, the innovative take onaction scenes, the mesmerizing executions from both Cate Blanchett andSaoirse Ronan and finally the tension-relieving moments of humortogether coordinate a successful attack against the highly menacingthreat of tedium.

(2012-04-27 15:35:09)

GREAT LOOKING ACTION-FILLED ADVENTURE NEVER LETS UP

Saoirse Ronan is Hanna, a teenager raised in an isolated, frozen wilderness by her ex-CIA operative father (Eric Bana) who has trained her to be a superbly skilled assassin. When he sends Hanna on a dangerous mission across Europe, she is for the first time exposed to normal life -- and discovers a longing for human connections. But first she must unravel the puzzle of her past -- and that of her father's. Joe Wright directs this great looking, action-filled adventure that never lets up. Cate Blanchett co-stars as a ruthlessly persistent CIA exec.

scarletheels

(2012-04-23 08:45:22)

Not for action junkies looking for a quick adrenaline fix

Hanna Heller (Saoirse Ronan, Atonement) lives in solitude in theFinland wilderness with her father, Erik (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA agent.For the past 16 years, he has been training her to be the perfectassassin. She is a skilled hunter and fluent in many languages but shelongs for the outside world. Realizing that she is finally ready, hegives Hanna a transmitter box which she uses to dispatch her locationto Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), another CIA agent. Leaving his daughter behind, Erik sets out to Berlin where Hanna is tomeet up with him after she has killed Marissa. She's captured, taken toMorocco, and interrogated by a double for Agent Wiegler. Believing thedouble is the real Marissa, Hanna snaps her neck and flees from thefacility, but not before getting her hands on classified files abouther own DNA. An intensive manhunt for Erik and Hanna begins. You should know that this isn't your typical action film fueled bycrazy spurts of adrenaline. No car chases through busy streets,superhuman stunts, or fiery explosions. In fact, it's more of Hanna'scoming-of-age story - her first real friend, experiencing the power ofmusic and dance after wondering about it for so long, encounteringtechnology and electricity after a decade and a half of kerosene lamps,being with a boy. This is a bit of a Euro Art House film so if you'relooking for a movie like Salt, you'll be vastly disappointed. As a David Lynch fan (director Joe Wright cited him as a majorinfluence), I give Wright props but The Chemical Brothers score isinvasive at times. As a stand-alone soundtrack, it is freaking awesome.What Daft Punk does for Tron doesn't always work in Hanna. Take Hanna'sescape from the CIA safe house in Morocco, for instance. The blaringtrack and flickering lights are enough to put the average person into arockin' epileptic seizure. Recommended to those who have the patience to let their tea steep butnot to action junkies looking for a quick adrenaline fix.

Max

(2012-04-22 21:24:19)

One of the worst movies of the year.

Pretentious, cheesy, art/new age/spy movie with no brain.Plot holes in this movie are legendary; Hanna is frightened byelectricity, TV, phones.... which is natural since she grew up in somecottage without any gifts from modern civilization...But, she uses the internet like Seven Of Nine.She must weigh 60 pounds, can barely run, but that is not stopping herfrom killing whole bunch of tough secret agents with her tiny rathands.spoiler alert! Eric Bana kills 4 armed dudes bare-handed, but getskilled by anorexic Cate in high heels. (He can also swim across arcticocean).And this is just tip of the iceberg.Hanna is, if not the worst, then probably the dumbest movie of theyear.

Tatum CS

(2012-04-18 20:30:25)

Hanna review

I believe that this movie was exhilarating! It was a brilliant filmthat could have a few tweaks done here & there. Saoirse Ronan is one ofthe most versatile actresses, especially for a 17 year old. The plotwas very confusing & this is the movie for you if you're into the whole'puzzling' feel in a movie. There was a couple of parts that didn'treally make sense as mentioned in other reviews the 'switch'..I reallydidn't think it was necessary. But otherwise it was quite aninteresting movie, but it isn't for everyone. I watched this movie withmy step-dad & he didn't like it at all. But I thought the whole'super-soldier' idea was interesting..it had me on the edge of my seat!I believe this is the movie for you if you're into trying to piecetogether things & especially if you like a good mysterious thriller!

scastagnoli1

(2012-04-18 09:04:44)

Saoirse Ronan's film

Instead of writing a moderate to lengthy review of "Hanna", I wish torecommend the film especially to those of you who may not be familiarwith Saoirse Ronan. As one who enjoys and seeks out good films, I cantell you that overall Hanna does include some arresting and beautifulcinematography in addition to a quirky art-house style. The film isentertaining and fun even though the plotting is thin and the secondarycharacters are not written with a lot of depth. That being said, thosecharacters are portrayed by very fine actors including thedistinguished Cate Blanchett.The main reason to see this film however, is to experience the leadcharacter played by Saoirse Ronan. While this role was not written tocontain the emotional depth charges of the Susie Salmon character in"The Lovely Bones", it does allow her the opportunity to completelysell us on the idea of this feral- like young woman who will killeasily and efficiently, and she also engages our empathy as a humanbeing shocked into entering a baffling and disorienting modern worldwithout any socialization skills because from the age of two, she hasonly interacted with one person.She once again displays the ability to completely rivet the viewer'sattention with a very powerful screen presence and charisma. Althoughit has been stated many times, it is true that you cannot take youreyes off her when she is on the screen. And of course, her acting isthoroughly natural and capable of fulfilling any requirement of herrole. Considering her age (now 17), she is truly a unique andremarkable acting talent. So don't hesitate to spend a couple of hoursto watch the most exciting rising star in film.

(2012-04-17 05:44:20)

Almost interesting

Starts off intriguingly, with Hanna being trained by her father. It's still interesting when she is captured and tries to carry out her mission. But it soon degenerates. It's hard to root for her or Erik when they're killing poor working shmucks like lab techs and policemen.What's good: seeing Hanna react and adjust to the outside world - meeting electricity and other people and showers. I'd wager the lesbian-toned kiss between her and another teen is what earned all the critical acclaim, because the script is Luc Besson material (think Fifth Element, not Taken). Some "symbolism" in filming in Wilhelm Grimm's house, bad wolf, wicked witch, etc., but somewhat blunt. The climax is a letdown - for all their training, the promise of Hanna's training is feebly realized, and some main characters are taken down like rank amateurs. There is no intelligence to their final encounters, no smarts, no skill, no payoff for all that training. A superior movie in this regard would be Die Hard. There we see the hero and villains actually use their brains. As such, this movie is kind of a missed mess of genres.If I'd rented this for a dollar from Redbox, I'd still say it stank. But I rented it for $6 On Demand due to the high praise from idiot critics and I wouldn't recommend others watch it within the rental period - better to waste my money than their time. Watch it if you're desperate. You have been warned.

(2012-04-16 22:25:56)

This is not your typical over the top action driven thriller.

I've seen several Saoirse Ronan movies (Atonement, Death Defying Acts, The Lovely Bones) but this one is by far my favorite. All of these movies are completely different from one another, requiring a different set of acting skills, yet Ronan is mesmerizing in them all. She has an acting range that is breathtaking to watch. The best way to enjoy this movie is to sit back, accept everything that you see without question, and enjoy the performances, especially that of Ronan. The script does suffer from some glaring credibility issues, but don't let that interfere with your enjoyment of the movie. Cinematography is superb under the masterful eye of Joe Wright's direction. He gets more mileage out of subtle facial expressions than any other director I've seen in a long long time. The soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers is also superb and complements the action beautifully. Overall, one of the best 111 minutes you'll ever spend.

imdb_expert

(2012-04-15 23:29:26)

horrific mix of road movie/feelgood/Jason Bourne intended for 10yr old girls

The first 10 minutes i thought this was going to be a good movie.Little girl being trained to be the ultimate killer. Could it possiblebe better than the Bourne movies? Then suddenly the girl starts talkingabout music and emotions, American actors dressed up as Moroccan andSpanish gypsies start dancing, singing and playing guitars. During thewhole movie there are techno children songs playing. The little girl(she's supposed to be 15 but she looks like 10) is walking through theAmerican desert when suddenly she's inside an Arab village. Huh? Ittook me a while to realize that it was supposed to be Morocco, becausethe desert scenes have the iconic rocks from America. Its like puttingthe Egyptian pyramids in a movie and then pretending its an Americandesert. The Americans-dressed-as-arabs had such poor disneylandishcostumes that i thought it was part of the movie that she walked onto amovie set. So there is a little girl walking into an arab town. Since when isnormal in Arab villages for blonde girls to walk around half-naked?None of the arab men, boys and women acknowledge her existence, evenwhen she stares at them and just randomly sits at peoples lunch tables.Could this movie get any more realistic? Yes, the girl meets touristchildren, starts driving around on motorcycles with the local boys, allthe while having deep conversations about god and buddha with thenew-age tourist mother, and she almost starts a lesbian relation withthe tourist daughter.As this all is taking place, the CIA decides to send the best of thespecial forces after her: 3 Neonazi British men from a strip-club.During the whole movie the girl and her father kill navy seals in amatter of seconds without problem and they avoid bullets and do othersuperhero things(though you never get to see any of these scenes, thecamera just switches off whenever something is about to happen) yetwhen confronted with 3 drunk neonazis from a strip-club(one of whichuses a cane to walk), they fight and fight and have major problems toavoid a punch in the stomach. And another punch. And another one. Howgood would the jason bourne movies have been if he got his ass kickedby a a drunk homeless guy?Meanwhile the girls father is supposed to be the good guy of the movie.He saved the girl from the CIA when she was a baby, is now in Europerandomly killing local cops that enter his line of sight, but havenothing to do with the CIA and are just out to do parking tickets. Oneof the best scenes of the movie is when he tells the girl he isn'treally her father, that she comes from a test-tube experiment, that hekilled 19 other women just like her mother and 19 other girls just likeher. He finishes it by saying he loves her. A serial killer,child-killer and cop-killer, how is that supposed to be a good guy?This movie really was a roller-coaster ride for me, it went frompromising the first 10 minutes, to extremely childish and absurdliterally in the space of 1 minute. It happened so fast that i couldactually feel my emotions die. I wanted to look up the directors nameso that i would never have to watch anything from him again. I do thinkhowever that perhaps the little girl is behind much of the plot of themovie. Just imagine what a 10yr old girl would like to see in a movie,and it suddenly starts making sense: "A colorful arab town with onlynice people, everyone is happy, it is such a mysterious and fundisneyland place like all arab towns no? Camels are fun! What peopleare bad? Neonazis are! So lets put some neonazis in the movie! How tomake it scary? Make one of the neonazis whistle children's songs!Oooooh scary." Etc.To sum it all up: fun for little girls only. I gave it 2 stars becausethe first 10 minutes were OK.

linustcr

(2012-04-15 11:04:08)

Bad storyline coupled with great direction / camera / sound. Technically brilliant.

A 'different' movie. Bad storyline coupled with great direction /camera / sound. Technically brilliant. The net result is quiteenjoyable. One does have to suspend disbelief to take in the gaps inlogic, but once you do that, it's a good ride.The entire movie is in effect a large chase, and the direction hasbrought about this element superbly. The camera work and sound kept meglued.There seems to be quite a few reviews that talk of all the gaps inlogic and reasoning in the movie. They are all true, but I found thehigh levels of technical brilliance more than made up for it.In the end, not a 'great' movie, but one that I nevertheless quiteenjoyed.

rwdrex

(2012-04-12 18:28:36)

Where's the brain when you need it?

Now I may sound a little jaded, but I like my movies about ass kickingteenage girls to do more than kick ass. I want them to surprise me withintelligence too.Simple plot summary. A teenage girl (Saoirse Ronan) is raised in thearctic by her ex-spy father (Eric Bana) to be an assassin. She is thensent on a mission to infiltrate the CIA and kill her father's archenemy (Cate Blanchett). Sounds like it might be cool, right? A classiccase of squandering potential.Apart from the opening few scenes where everything kinda clicks, thismovie plods on from one illogical character decision/plot point to thenext. Why does a teenager who can hunt and kill efficiently and withoutremorse all of a sudden feel the need to run away from ALL fights afterthe first 20 minutes of film or so? Why do mercenaries/agents sent tokill these trained assassins leave their guns at home and insteaddecided to fight it out hand to hand or with whatever weapon they findlaying around? How does a girl raised in the wilderness with noexperience with electricity somehow manage to access and use withamazing results a search engine at an web cafГѓВ©? etc...I have the answer--lazing writing.If the film stays busy enough maybe we won't have time to think aboutthese things--Wrong! The directer (Joe Wright) approached this filmwith a German new wave style (ala Run Lola Run) and it's cool. Theacting by the main three characters is solid with some decentsupporting work as well. And the action scenes especially at thebeginning work really well. We're just left with way too many holes andinconsistencies to keep the film from greatness.If you can check your brain at the door you might enjoy this film. Butif you were looking from a smart thriller like the Bourne films you'regoing to be mighty disappointed.

jfwhelan

(2012-04-12 16:26:34)

A Very absorbing story, but there will be questions

My immediate reaction after watching this is "Wow!" This a is roller-coaster ride of a film and most of it is the fastpaced downhill and tight cornering part, though there are one or twonecessary breaks when the roller-coaster climbs to it's next peak.The film is well made and the acting is impressive. Saoirse Ronan is arevelation in her role. She played the part of an all knowing ingГѓВ©nueto perfection and in so doing displayed a detached and innocent beautythat was never coy or knowingly sexual. I believed, it that she couldhave told the hotelier in absolute detail how the light worked, yetfound the actuality of its working almost magical. As can be inferred from the above,I very much enjoyed this film. Iparticularly liked the way the director allowed the film to unfoldwithout those overused ploys that add false tension and maximise theembarrassment of certain encounters. Hanna was not embarrassed by herignorance or mistakes and it was right that we were not lead to beembarrassed for her. The levels of tension and menace occurrednaturally with the plot and worked. If I have any problems with this film, it is with the story. There issome exposition as the film progresses and we do glean a certainunderstanding of the immediate focus of some of the characters.However, we never really get to nail the underlying motives and reasonsand we certainly never get answers for some of the important questions.I wanted to know a little more about Hanna by the end and was a littlelet down by the way the film just stopped, as it did. Maybe there is tobe a sequel: there is certainly room for one. I don't usually look for parallels or possible muses when I watchfilms. Sometimes, however, they come unbidden to me. When watching thisI find definite parallels somewhat obviously, I suspect, to 'The BourneIdentity' and perhaps less obviously to 'Blade Runner'. And like 'BladeRunner' we have a pretty good idea who the 'baddies' are, but we neverreally get to decide who the 'goodies' are. I just hope that like 'TheBourne Identity' there is more to come.

lindseyholcombe18

(2012-04-09 08:41:31)

Great Potential, Terrible Execution

At first I was hooked. Great opener, intriguing story line and a goodcast! This movie went downhill fast though. Tons of loose ends thatnever got tied up. I thought the back story was the most interestingpart of the movie and it was never really developed. It was kind oflike a machine with tons of working parts but no forward movement. Itwas a movie a la Quentin Tarantino but without the brains. I'mtypically not a fan of Tarantino though and hated Kill Bill...so thereyou go. Wish I had known this movie's style before going. If you hateKill Bill (and others like it) you will probably hate Hanna too. Sadwaste of our $20 bucks and a $30,000,000 budget. Sorry Eric Bana andCate Blanchette-I really wanted to love it!

emro1972

(2012-04-08 18:58:24)

A curious and intriguing film.

An incredibly intriguing and captivating film that sees a matureperformance from the young Saoirse Ronan, ably assisted by a host ofwell known faces like Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana and Tom Hollander.The film revolves around a teenage girl Hanna(Ronan) who has beentrained by her ex-CIA father(Bana) to become the perfect assassin.However, the time comes when she has to fight for her survival bysetting out to defeat her enemies.Saoirse Ronan plays a very compelling lead in this film. Portraying agirl who is almost super human with an astounding amount of knowledge,yet incredibly inexperienced in the ways of the world is no easy task.I'm happy to say she delivers a very credible and likable performance.She ably communicates Hanna's emotions in a cold unemotional way, ifyou get my drift. After all, she has been brought up to be the ultimateassassin. She isn't a bad person, but she doesn't feel pity.Cate Blanchett is convincing as a CIA operative who is devoid of anyfeeling towards other people and Tom Hollander plays an almost humorouspart as a hired killer, the like of which you rarely see these days. Ifound his character of Isaacs to be truly repulsive, yet almost asfascinating as Hanna herself and would love to know who he based theportrayal on.Hollander's role adds realism to the film. His character is verybelievable and real because he is too outrageous to be a hired killerin a film. This aspect of realism in "Hanna" is also enhanced with theinvolvement of a travelling English family. It helps cement the factthat this is really happening that, in a world where families go onholiday, a young wide eyed teenager can be a supreme fighting machine.This isn't one of those ridiculously absurd Hollywood popcorn moviesabout super kids. This feels real.The film spends time in several parts of Europe and is shot in areassuringly basic way, again enhancing the realism of the scenario.The soundtrack isn't particularly grand and there's no call to thePresident to save the day. There's no bravado here, just a strong andcompelling story.This is a stimulating and novel take on a subject that Hollywood wouldusually spoil with over dramatic fight scenes and unnecessaryexplosions. With a modest budget, this was money well spent.

thechrismeister

(2012-04-06 20:22:50)

So great I am hoping for a sequel

Before I watched this movie I looked at a few trailers and pretty muchhad a good understanding what it would be about. And to be honest, thestory turned out that way also. BUT, it was still so much better. Andlet me tell you why.Even though we have seen parts of the storyline in many other movies, Iam so impressed with how they managed to make this so interesting. Thescript is amazing, and even though you pretty much know what willhappen, every scene in the movie still has a little twist in some way.Maybe a scene turned out more brutal than you expected, or maybesomeone said something that was not really the textbook answer youalways get. All through the movie I kept getting a feeling of "wow" and"oh" if you know what I mean. Also I am impressed with how Joe Wrightwas able to captivate the audience in every scene. It felt like everyangle was so perfectly thought of in advance which brought so muchquality feel to the movie.Saoirse Ronan pretty much has become my favorite female actress. She isonly 17 but acts better then most Hollywood bigshots. She is so naturalin her acting, and you really believe she is Hanna. Even though it wasa great script, I don't think it would have been such a greatexperience without Saoirse.I am sure most people will think this is a great movie. It reallyoffers something for everyone and I promise you, you won't bedisappointed. I for sure hope we will see a sequel to this.

David Ferguson

(2012-04-06 03:17:17)

I Just Missed Your Heart

Greetings again from the darkness. I am struggling a bit with how muchto say about this one. It is such a different type of film that it'sdifficult to categorize. Yes, it is definitely an Action-Thriller (inthe Bourne vein), but it also has some dark comedy, as well as somecommentary on parenting, governmental agencies and coming of age.Let me first say that I highly recommend the film if you are an fan ofthrillers and/or action films. It succeeds well on both fronts.However, there is much more to this movie, particularly the fantastictalents of Saoirse Ronan. You will remember her stunning turns in both"Atonement" and "The Lovely Bones". Here she plays Hanna, a girl raisedin the deep forest by her father (Eric Bana). His sole purpose inraising her was to train her to be a deadly weapon in any situation. Ohand he also "schooled" her with some generic encyclopedia thatevidently was a gas station giveaway. Her head is filled with facts,figures and data on all parts of the world, and somehow she speaks aninfinite number of languages.When she finally tires of gutting deer in the wild, she tells herfather she is "ready". We then find out that her father is some type offormer CIA agent and with the flip of a sonar switch, the two separateand the CIA moves in to capture her. While sitting in a secured bunkerin the desert, her "mission" becomes clear. She is to kill the CIAagent played by Cate Blanchett. That's when the movie kicks into gear.What follows are some terrific action and fight sequences, a wonderfulsegment where Hanna hangs out with a traveling British family led byOlivia Williams and Jason Flemyng ... and their daughter Sophie, playedexceptionally well by Jessica Barden. The "friendship" that Sophie andHanna create really brings into focus how sheltered from society Hannahas been.The cat and mouse chase with Blanchett and her goons would have workedbetter if Blanchett's character had been better defined and she wasn'tjust god-awful in it. Usually Ms. Blanchett is a strong actress whoadds much to a film. Here, she is the dead-weight keeping it fromreaching even greater heights.The film is directed by Joe Wright, who has also provided "Pride andPrejudice", "Atonement", and "The Soloist". The man knows how to make amovie ... and that's why this is so much more than an action flick. Imust also mention that the Chemical Brothers are standouts with thefilm score, and though it catches you off guard at first, it reallyadds impact and effect to the film. There have been a few recent filmswith young girls in action/fight films. And while Chloe Moretz wasexcellent in "Kick-Ass", this film is far superior. Get to know Saoirse(pronounced Sur-Shuh) Ronan. She is a real talent!

circulati

(2012-04-05 05:58:01)

Weak story. Wait. NO story.

Why did Marissa (the evil witch) terminate the program? No explanation.Why did Erik run from the Agency with Hanna and her mother (who werepart of the program) after he helped implement that same program? Noexplanation.If he wanted revenge and wanted to train Hanna as the perfect assassin,why raise her in the arctic woods, where she had no idea aboutelectricity, TV, music, let alone about the technology that the CIA wasgoing to use to get her. Why not raise her in another country, butamong people, so that she wouldn't freak out when she heard a phoneringing? I guess it would have made too much sense.How am I supposed to believe that she's a genetically programmedkilling machine, with unbelievable muscle power, agility and endurance,and she can kick grown men's asses at will, when SHE RUNS LIKE A GIRL?And I can go on and on and on...Seriously, brothers Grimm would have been insulted.

david-sarkies

(2012-04-04 15:17:56)

A trained killer at 14, Hanna is left to fend for herself.

This movie was simply brilliant. I've noticed that a lot of comments onIMDb were pretty damning on this movie, and granted I watched it whileI was flying over India in the middle of the longest night of my lifeon my way from Singapore to London. Still, I wasn't really all thatdrowsy and was quite able to follow this movie, so I really don'tunderstand what people didn't like about it. I guess I'm justdifferent.I like movies about assassins though a lot that I have watched haveended up really disappointing me. That is usually because I go into thefilm with high expectations and in the end these expectations aresimply not met. This was not the case with this film, mainly because Ihad not heard of it until I was sitting on the plane mulling overwhether I should watch something or simply continue reading my book. Inthen end I am really glad that I ended up watching this film.The movie is about a girl named Hanna who grew up with her father inthe European Wilderness (most likely Northern Germany or Poland, it isnot really all that clear). Her father Erik (Eric Banna) is teachingher survival and combat skills though it is not clear why, but thenHanna says that she wants to leave as she believes that it is time, sohe dumps her in the middle of Morocco and is left to fend for herselfand make her way to Germany by a set time.As is typical with a lot of these movies, there is a mysteriousorganisation that is hunting them down, and it is only Hanna and Erikthat stand between them and the realisation of their plans. However themovie focuses mostly on Hanna since after she is dropped in MoroccoErik fades into the background and Hanna joins up with an Americanfamily on a holiday through Europe and Morocco (some criticised Moroccoas looking to much like Southern California, but who really cares, aslong as it is a good movie I don't care where it is filmed, and anyway,the climates are quite similar. Nobody criticised Lord of the Rings forbeing filmed in New Zealand as opposed to Middle Earth, but then thatis not really the same).Yes, this is another coming of age film, and also of a relatively weakperson up against incredible odds. I say relatively weak though becauseHanna is a trained killer, and she will kill without a second thought.Hanna isn't a Jim Hawkins (of Treasure Island) type of child, no, sheis not innocent and she is not weak. Well, she has grown up in arelatively sheltered world, but this is not the sheltered world ofmiddle class Christian suburbia, but rather the rugged and cold outbackon Europe. What she is not used to is social interaction in whitemiddle class Christian suburbia namely because the only other personthat she knew was her father, and her father trained her to kill, andto kill effectively.