MOVIE REVIEW - Hanna

One of the real fun things about reviewing movies is you get to see all the movies. And you generally have an expectation one way or the other when going in.

For Hanna, I have to say expectations for me were low. And I was so pleasantly surprised at how really compelling this story was. Honestly, I was not looking forward to seeing a story where a 15 year old girl is a trained assassin, and the CIA has a hit out on her. There was just something about that sentence that bothered me. But Hanna is smarter than I thought it would be. This story line possibly disturbing, is handled and told expertly.

Hanna is the story this 15 year old kid, raised in the Antarctic by her father in seclusion. He educates her in numerous languages, she talks in staccato computer like sentences and has an amazing amount of self-defense skills. She in short, is some kind of prodigy assassin super weapon. She is a seemingly cold blooded, and hearted killer of animals and possibly people. But she yearns for human contact, and eventually makes her way to Europe where she hopes to begin some kind of normal life. But she finds because of her years of seclusion and upbringing, that will be impossible.

It turns out the CIA finds out about her and her father are now free in the world and they put a hit out on the both of them. Turns out he is a rogue ex-CIA agent and Hanna is some kind of freak genetic experiment that has gone both horribly right, and terribly wrong a the same time. As they are pursued around the world, Hanna herself cannot adjust to her surroundings in a positive way, and her father is trying hard to protect her. As he knows she is the only link left in the cover up of this now shut-down CIA program on genetic testing. And they will most assuredly kill her.

Hanna is exciting, smart and extremely well thought out. The story is original and told well. The real strength is the wonderful development of her character. You are right there with her every step of the way. She does not know she is a genetic freak. She thinks she is just a little girl and that is the great part of this story. Even though she knows what she is capable of, she only knows she wants what all 15 year old girls want. You can feel her pain, and sense her longings and her fear. Well done. It's a race against time, who will win?

Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) stars as Hanna and is very good in a challenging role. Very physically demanding and with a nice mix of scared little girl, and cold blooded killer. Cate Blanchett, and Eric Bana round out a real nice cast.

Hanna, a nice surprise that's very welcome right now at the movies.