Hanna


It's no secret that trailers can be misleading and Hanna's are squarely in that group. Yes, it is a thriller with breakneck action sequences and psychotic hitmen.   What the trailers don't reveal is the true nature of the beast, a strangely touching coming-of-age tale set against a thriller.  Saoirse Ronan plays the title character with  adolescent ferocity at once powerful and uncertain.  I thought she had sprung from anonymity, but at 16 she's an old hand from various films and tv series.


Hanna's strength as a film comes from it's fusion of genres into a working hybrid.  Contrasting tender scenes of childhood friendship with murderous skirmishes,  Hanna builds a good bit of suspense as to it's ultimate direction.  For a while.  I had an inkling that things would founder when Cate Blanchett's character, a CIA honcho, failed to develop beyond a stylish caricature.   What a waste.  Likewise her mercenary killers.  The writers did some creative thinking on this script, but they seemed to have drawn a blank when it came to the thriller part of the equation. That's  too bad considering the potential the film hints at as it winds up.  Still, I appreciate Hanna for striking out in a fresh direction.