A young girl (Saoirse Ronan) was raised and spent her entire live somewhere in the forested European wilderness, where she has been trained by her assassin father (Eric Bana) to be just as intelligent and deadly as he is. When she reaches an appropriate age he gives her the option to experience live in the real world which she unblinkingly takes. As he flees, being a wanted man, she is taken in by operatives where she is interrogated by a team directed by her father's handler, a cold and ruthless woman (Cate Blanchett) who holds a secret to the young girl's past. After dispensing of the men at the holding facility, she escapes and makes her way across Europe to meet her father, while she will be chased by nasty Euro baddies and meet a friend while learning about day-to-day living. Hanna is a quality action film from director Joe Wright who has done some nice work before in period pieces Pride and Prejudice as well as Atonement, which also featured Ronan. Here his handling of action sequences is crisp and clear, where all the scenes are apparent and make sense. This cannot be said of many action sequences where often we must wait until a gun battle has ceased until we can decipher who survived it. Maybe the secret is hiring good directors to make action movies, while casting off the current ones? Saoirse Ronan, who is only 17, has quickly developed into a fine actress and gives credibility here to a high concept plot. Other than that, there's not much to say about the acting. Eric Bana is an actor I neither like nor dislike, and here he is just on screen once again bringing his bland presence to the film. Cate Blanchett, I'm a little shocked to say, does not really pull off her role as the callous villain. Her silly accent and dare I say poor acting choices result in a caricature. Still, Hanna is more than sufficient entertainment thanks to its action sequences and its young heroine.
