Hanna

Directed by Joe Wright, Hanna follows a 16-year-old survivalist (Saoirse Ronan’s Hanna) as she leaves her isolated home for the first time and embarks on a journey that eventually brings her face-to-face with a ruthless CIA agent (Cate Blanchett’s Marissa). Wright, working from Seth Lochhead and David Farr’s screenplay, has infused the early part of Hanna with an unapologetically disorienting feel that initially holds the viewer at arm’s length, with the pervasive lack of context or exposition (ie why does Hanna want to make her presence known to Blanchett’s character?) compounded by the film’s deliberate pace. There’s little doubt, however, that the movie receives a much-needed jolt of energy once Hanna is captured by Marissa’s agents, as Wright subsequently offers up a striking, downright enthralling action sequence revolving around the protagonist’s escape from a seemingly impenetrable bunker. It’s the ongoing inclusion of similarly breathtaking action-oriented moments (eg an absolutely magnificent single-take pursuit/fight scene that ranks as one of the best of its type) that ultimately compensates for Hanna‘s decidedly uneven atmosphere, with the movie’s languid midsection, which is concerned primarily with Hanna’s fish-out-of-water exploits (eg Hanna discovers electricity, Hanna befriends a relatively normal nuclear family, etc, etc), certainly testing the viewer’s patience on a distressingly ongoing basis. As a result, Hanna, for the most part, comes off as a rather standard chase thriller that’s been filtered through the lens of an art-house sensibility – which does ensure that the film is destined to leave audiences utterly divided (ie either you’re willing to go with Wright’s off-kilter modus operandi or you’re not).

*** out of ****