DVD Reviews

Hanna

• Rating:
• Director: Joe Wright
• Starring: Cate Blanchett
• Details: US/111 mins (15A)

Another reminder of Saoirse Ronan's considerable talents, this is the Carlow native stretching herself to a whole new level and playing a young assassin trained in dangerous combat and survival techniques. Eric Bana too impresses as her father, but helmer Joe Wright's execution is borderline pretentious and movie often works in spite of it.
Ronan is the titular Hanna, a very special teen who was raised in an extremely isolated part of the world by Bana's rogue government agent - never meeting anyone else. Her father agrees to let her venture outside of their home but warns of an impending plan for their capture at the hands of Cate Blanchett's calculating CIA Agent. Once out in the world, Hanna's naivety is obvious to those she encounters, but the girl can more than take care of herself - which is a good thing given the nasty swines that are chasing her.
From an intrusive, distracting Chemical Brothers score, to locations that lack the innate scale for what Wright was reaching for you get the impression the talented helmer was looking to differentiate his film for the countless Bourne knock-offs. He has a wonderful cast to do that, and when he does finally kick into action mode Hanna is an awful lot of fun. One sequence involving Bana towards the end is particularly brilliant, as he shoots a nicely visceral hand to hand combat scene.
This is Ronan's film and the actress continues to electrify with each passing role. Here she gets to show range at an age when most other wannabe cohorts are ploughing their trade on The Disney Channel - a testament to how her raw talent has continued to evolve since an early Oscar nomination. It's ironic that she stars opposite Blanchett here, as she's bares more than a passing resemblance to the Aussie actress and should have a similar career trajectory.
Enjoyable thanks to Ronan and Bana; this is ultimately a disappointing, if occasionally thrilling, action flick.

Review by Mike Sheridan