The elements presented in “Hanna” are nothing that viewers haven’t seen before. The government agent who has a change of heart and the top-secret research project that goes askew are commonly used throughout the CIA thriller genre. However, the way they are presented in “Hanna” is unique. Director Joe Wright (“Pride and Prejudice” (2005), “Atonement” (2007)) steps away from his usual period dramas to direct a film that combines chase thriller with classic fairy tale. With radiant performances, well choreographed action scenes and an invigorating score by the Chemical Brothers, “Hanna” is an imperfect film that still manages to capture the viewer’s attention from start to finish.
Saoirse Ronan plays Hanna, a 16-year-old girl who lives in an isolated forest cabin somewhere in Finland with her father Erik (Eric Bana). An ex-CIA agent on the run, Erik has trained his daughter to be a professional assassin. Hanna has lived in the forest her entire life and has never experienced modern technology. She spends her days training with her father and reciting her series of fake back stories. One day, her father presents her with an electronic box with a switch and tells her to flip the switch if she feels ready to go out into the world.
After Hanna decides to flip the switch, it sends a signal of their location to a corrupt CIA agent named Marissa Weigler (Cate Blanchett), who wishes to kill Hanna and Erik for reasons not as mysterious as the screenplay makes them seem. Hanna is captured and held in an underground compound, but manages a quick escape thanks to her training. While traveling with a vacationing English family and dodging assassins sent after her, Hanna attempts to rendezvous with her father in Berlin and learn a little about herself.
Ronan’s portrayal of the title character serves as the central attraction for the film. At age 16, she has proved to be one of the few actresses in her age group that demonstrates promising acting talent. Ronan plays a morally challenged character, similar to her Academy Award-nominated performance in “Atonement” (2007).
Blanchett is also brilliant in her role as the big, bad Wicked Witch CIA boss who fills the movie with chilling malevolence.
The film could have benefitted from fewer scenes with Tom Hollander, who plays Marissa’s henchman sent to kill Hanna. His character relies too heavily on gay clichés and seems like a homosexual homicidal sadist.
If the story isn’t enough to keep viewers interested, the action sequences are. The stimulating musical score by the Chemical Brothers works well with the action scenes of neck breaking and slashing, relying on pulsating beats from percussion, cellos and violins.
The movie also provides plenty of humor when Hanna hitches a ride with a traveling English family. To be more precise, the bratty daughter of the family, Sophie (Jessica Barden), provides most of the comedy since she is the sort of precocious teen that acts desperately sophisticated.
Despite of all this, “Hanna” is still undermined by its unoriginal story that feels borrowed from both “The Bourne Identity” (2002) and “The American” (2010). However, it does, interestingly enough, come off as a combination of “The Bourne Identity” and a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Blanchett acts as the witchy character looking to kill the sweet child and Bana is like the woodsman father who tries to protect his snow-white-skinned daughter.
As a thriller, “Hanna” is boisterously well-crafted, with Ronan proving again to be an accomplished adolescent and Wright establishing himself as an excellent director of action.