You see, Hanna’s not just another teenage girl. She’s actually the obsession of CIA agent Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) and the last remnant of a secret government project to create the perfect soldier. Of course, the fact that Hanna allows herself to be caught is a clue to all involved. This girl’s got a mission. And that mission is revenge. Sending a child to do an adult’s job isn’t always the best idea, and when Hanna goes on the run with her work undone, the hunter has become the hunted and the predator has become the prey. Joe Wright isn’t known for his action films, but he has produced some great work in his brief career as a director. Specifically, Wright is the director of Atonement, for which Saoirse Ronan was nominated for an Academy Award. While Hanna won’t be winning any Oscars (since they don’t give Oscars to action films), it is a well-made European thriller in the tradition of Luc Besson. Wright and cinematographer Alwin H. Kuchler also find some very unusual places to stage their action scenes, and even breathe some new life into familiar old settings like sewers, abandoned amusement parks, and shipping yards. The trio of stars in Hanna, Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, and Cate Blanchett, are very good in this film. Saoirse Ronan has an incredible look about her, with a wonderful delicateness in her expressions, yet a sureness and grace in her physicality that comes through in her martial arts scenes. She walks a fine line between being a vulnerable kid and a hard edged fighting machine, and Ronan is able not to swing too far in either direction. Bana also brings his tremendous physical presence to the screen as Hanna’s father, Erik, while Cate Blanchett channels Clarice Starling mixed with Hannibal Lecter for her role as the woman who is determined to track down what she calls “a rogue asset.” Tom Hollander’s, ahem, unusual ex-secret agent/assassin character, Isaacs, also walks a delicate balance between foppish and fatal, and he does it well. While the script, from frequent MI-5 contributor, David Farr, and Seth Lochhead, lacks the originality of, say, The American, it’s consistently entertaining. The action set pieces are well spaced, and in between there are some fine moments of drama for Ronan to work with, as well as some comic relief in the form of an unusual British family that Hanna links up with as they caravan through northern Africa and Spain, which gives Hanna a family group she never had growing up in the Arctic with her fugitive father. One of the interesting things about Hanna is that the film isn’t simply an action film, and Hanna herself isn’t simply an action movie cypher. She’s a girl on the cusp of womanhood, taking her first tentative steps out into a world she doesn’t know, while trying to figure out just who she is and what her purpose might be. The fact that she’s a born killer doesn’t change the fact that she’s also a teenager. While the movie doesn’t focus on that to the detriment of the action scenes (Hanna is much more action-oriented than The American or The Professional), it’s an unusual addition to the character of Hanna, and it gives the movie a little something to chew on that doesn’t involve bullets. US Correspondent Ron Hogan has always wanted to get involved in a street chase through various European cities to a thumping techno beat provided by The Chemical Brothers. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
title: “Hanna Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-12” author: “James Hughes”
Saoirse Ronan stars as the lead character, a young girl who is brought up in remote Northern Europe by her father, ex-CIA agent, Erik Heller (Eric Bana). Schooled in multiple languages, lectured from various encyclopaedias, and taught to fend for herself as both a keen-eyed hunter and a resourceful fighter, Hanna is raised as the ultimate super-operative. Her skills are put to the test when she is finally set loose, on the hunt for Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), a shady figure from her father’s past. From the title card, which flashes blood-red on screen at the punctuation of a gunshot, Wright delights in going straight for the jugular, whether it’s in the compressed sense of pacing or the kid in sweetshop sampling of shots, set-ups and diegetic perspectives. At times it‘s dizzying, as extreme close-ups give way to CCTV mash-ups, zooms, and nonsensical strobing. It’s an interesting, if rather superficial aesthetic, especially when twinned with the film’s equally unsubtle approach to characterisation. Wiegler, in a desperate bid for leitmotif, is immediately defined by her choice in footwear, as well as her ginger mop and heavy accent. Other directors could transform this mixture of expressionism and caricature into pop art, but Hanna comes off as uneven, at times even a little unsophisticated. For the most part, though, Hanna is rather fun, but it flags in its middle act, where Hanna embarks on a personal journey of self-discovery that takes her from Finland to Morocco, and finally to Germany. Lost in the big wide world, the girl finds herself swept up in society, baffled by simple electronic technology and entranced by a family of holidaying Brits. However, despite Ronan displaying perfect straight man comic timing in scenes with ultra-tween Sophie (Jessica Barden), the film loses its pace, sagging where it should steadily build tension, and fails to bring proper dimension to the title character. Likewise, a faint undercurrent of fairytale is left to fester, neither buried in subtext nor inflated to the grotesque level of a Wild At Heart homage. Characters are referred to as witches, and others idly gather breadcrumbs in the palms of their hands, but these are just loose threads in a film full of them. Hanna shows some promise, particularly in Ronan’s versatile performance, but between the overwrought style and underdeveloped script, there’s plenty for Wright to workshop, if he decides to make another, similarly-styled flick. Here’s our US reviewer’s take on the stateside release of the film.
