Hanna

Given that Hanna’s director is the same Joe Wright who helmed Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Atonement, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this film could be about a frail, pouting English rose. But you’re in luck – not only is Keira Knightley nowhere to be seen, but in her place we have a half-wild girl from Finland, who could shoot the apple off of someone’s head all the way in Sweden.

Raised in the wilderness by her assassin father Erik (Bana), sixteen-year-old Hanna (Ronan) is a master markswoman and has been trained as a deadly killer, detached from the modern technological world of high-tech gadgets and guns. Worried about his many enemies, Erik has chosen a life cut off from the rest of the world to protect his daughter from harm. But when a determined CIA officer (Blanchett) makes it her aim to capture the duo, Hanna must venture out of the woods and fight for her life.

Boasting some slick action sequences, Hanna has a fast paced energy thanks to sharp editing and inventively choreographed fight scenes. Although young and waif like, Ronan shines as the eponymous heroine who is a hypnotising mix of savage ruthlessness and naive innocence. Bana and Blanchett also impress, making for a tightly knit cast that help carry the film when whizzing arrows and flying kicks can’t.

Unwinding like a thriller caught in the web of a Brothers Grimm fairy-tale, Hanna brims with style and heart-racing sequences, all deployed at the audience with thought and discipline. The result is a well crafted, exciting film that stands head and shoulders above the rest in the crowded action-thriller genre.

Luke Woellhaf