Last
night I saw a play called "The Sparrow" about a telekinetic teenager
who killed people and today I saw "Hanna" about a genetically engineered
teenager who kills people. What is it with teenagers today?! :O)

Saoirse Ronan plays Hanna who is brought up by her father, Eric Bana,
in cold isolation in the middle of nowhere in Finland. He has taught
her hunting, how to defend herself against anyone, to run or fight at a
moment's notice, all but about the outside world and interacting with people. Saoirse has a translucent, alabaster look to her skin, along with blue eyes,
that makes her look vulnerable and when she decides, and her father
reluctantly agrees, to enter that world she knows nothing about, you
fear for her until her first self defense homicide.

Along
the way Hanna experiences her first feel for family when she meets up
with a family of 4 who take her in seeing her as a free spirit. The
mother, Olivia Willaims, who always has room for another child welcomes her while the daughter, Jessica Barden, gives Hanna her first kiss after the latter almost kills a boy who wanted to kiss her.

This being a thriller you have to have villains/villainesses and here we have Cate Blanchett who wants to find and kill Bana and Ronan.
Wearing  red helmet hair, dressed in severe suits and speaking in a
Texas drawl she is a formidable hunter. She recruits Tom Hollander, a
vile gay, what else?, henchman with bleach blond hair and his two
'assistants' to help her.

This being a  thriller of course there are the car chases, much gross violence with both Ronan and Bana doing a lot of fighting and killing. There is also a fairy tale element
that comes to the fore front when things start closing in on Hanna.

The movie is loud with an appropriate pounding musical score by the Chemical brothers. The screenplay by Seth Lochhead and David Farr doesn't fulfill its promise but does make make of the journey interesting. The direction by Joe Wright, and the photography by Alwin Kucher, goes from a remarkable one long take sequence to a few annoying, hand held shots.

"Hanna"
is not my type of film but I wasn't bored and I enjoyed watching
Saoirse Ronan.  I didn't have to suspend too much belief at the
explanation at the end but the journey getting there was handled well.