User reviews

I really wanted to watch this film but I didn't have the time when it was in theatres. So I recently treated myself to the Blu Ray copy. I decided to check the user reviews before watching it and was very surprised by the amount of negative feedback. The reviews were almost hate posts! So, I put the disc in with mixed expectations and afterwards, I sat, glued to the credits thinking "what was their problem?!" Truly a beautiful film. Don't set out expecting an action packed bad-ass picture (I think that was the problem with most of the negative reviewers). Though not as frequent as your everyday action film, the action scenes are just as exciting as ever. If you liked the fighting techniques in Taken, imagine a teenage girl pulling off moves just as hardcore, if not more. The visuals and sounds of the film are nothing short of artistic. I give it an 8 out of ten. Not the best film of 2011, but definitely not the worst.

A 'different' movie. Bad storyline coupled with great direction / camera / sound. Technically brilliant. The net result is quite enjoyable. One does have to suspend disbelief to take in the gaps in logic, but once you do that, it's a good ride.

The entire movie is in effect a large chase, and the direction has brought about this element superbly. The camera work and sound kept me glued.

There seems to be quite a few reviews that talk of all the gaps in logic and reasoning in the movie. They are all true, but I found the high levels of technical brilliance more than made up for it.

In the end, not a 'great' movie, but one that I nevertheless quite enjoyed.

This is a sleek, slick, entertaining film about a young woman (Saoirse Ronan), living in the snow-covered woods of Finland, who realizes, her father (Eric Bana, quite well I might add), an ex-CIA man (who has trained her to do combat, self defense and all kinds of killing), is not really her father at all, but a man who rescued her from the lab experiment that created her originally for this assassin lifestyle that the scientists meant for her. She makes a decision to go out into the world on her own, but she faces great danger revolving around a dangerous intelligence officer (Cate Blanchett). Everybody has a secret and that is what comes to light as the movie and the chase moves on.

This is a film with a nicely built structure, beautiful cinematography, breath-taking locations and a fantastic editing job highlight some of what makes this film quite good. The film opens and closes almost the same way and there is an interesting angle involving the fact that Hanna has never heard music in her life, but her "mother" was a singer. It brings an interesting contrast to the rest of the key elements in the film. The action scenes are stimulating. I only saw a couple of mistakes. It has a wonderful soundtrack and the film is put together real nice. Hanna is a 16 year old kid, who is brought into the world very grown up and it is interesting watching her naivete and her smarts collide together.

8.5 (B+ MyGrade) = 8 IMDB

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Hanna (Saoirse Ronan), who was raised in a forest by her father Erik (Eric Bana). As an ex-CIA agent, Erik taught Hanna everything she needed: hunting, armed and unarmed combat, and all the languages in the world. One day, Hanna was sent out of the forest to assassinate Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), the woman who murdered her mother.

Joe Wright's latest feature is modern-day fairy-tale that is part revenge-flick, part coming- of-age drama. Like his last effort, 'The Soloist', 'Hanna' has some very good ideas that are let down by bad decisions and occasionally over-powering direction.

The film certainly has a very strong beginning. The concept of a killer child may be screwed- up, but this is offset by the curiosity it arouses. Why has Erik raised Hanna in this manner? Who is this woman they want to kill, and why did she become their enemy?

The storytelling is tight, intentionally drip-fed, which keeps the focus on the moment and makes the assassination plan more dramatic. Well, for the first 45 minutes. After that, Hanna sees the wider world for the first time and becomes distracted – which is both good and bad.

On one hand, it allows some insight into the effects of Hanna's blinkered upbringing. Having grown up killing her own breakfast and making her own fire, she is not prepared for her journey through the modern world. Seeing her flick light switches on and off in awe is one of several touching moments, which add a human side to what could have become another soulless gun movie.

However, Wright doesn't know when to pull back on the sentimentality. The film hits its low point when Hanna hitches a ride with a stuck-up English hippy family, which is meant to contrast the lonely, limited nature of Hanna's upbringing. Ironically, this family is even more dysfunctional than Hanna and Erik, and only succeeds in making Hanna's journey more irrelevant.

Her meticulous plan somehow becomes self-indulgent faux-art, featuring slow-motion Flamenco dancing. The film goes so off-course that it is questionable whether there was a plan in the first place. Is the story intentionally drip-fed, or is there just not very much to tell? For a child raised specifically to kill, Hanna doesn't end up doing very much.

That's not to say that there isn't any action. There are a handful of set pieces, and they are a delight to behold. From a fight in a subway to a chase through a labyrinthine cargo yard, the action is wonderfully shot and expertly edited. Long, tracking shots allow for a high level of clarity and immersion. Even this, however, is sometimes ruined with over-energetic camera-work, turning the film into a music video.

Saoirse Ronan is a good action star, throwing herself into her fight scenes with zeal, but her real strength is her acting. On one hand she seems so genuinely lethal that it's a little scary. At the same time, she has a delicate, innocent aura that makes it hard not to feel sorry for her. This is a layered performance that transcends the generic labelling of 'good' or 'evil'.

'Hanna' is not flawed, but sabotaged. Ronan is superb, and the action is fantastic, but even this is not enough to put the film back on course after Joe Wright steered it in the wrong direction. It started off as a good film, but ended up as a handful of good ideas, poorly strung together.

As I watch this film, I already observe the unconventional treatment of this film in term of color toning. It is same as you watching a fairy tale-ish approach movie this film but it is an action film. Makes me feel it is a modern fairy tale movie with action-pack thrilling twist. The progression of the story is a bit inconsistent there is a high and low but manage to put a high marks on some scenes. The fight scenes well-choreographed but expecting more on the climax which it felt flat but got its mark. The location choice of filming is astounding. Marissa (Cate Blanchett) did a good job in this film, she is a wicked witch in this film and Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is the princess. Another highlight in this film is musical score, I love how the tension build up by its sounds. It makes me feel that I am also part of this movie.

Having read some of the more negative reviews on this site, all I can say is that they all seem to have the same complaint in common. Namely, non-acceptance of certain plot contrivances.

So let me say straight off: if you are the sort of person who didn't like Inception because it made no sense, or the sort of person who didn't like The Matrix Trilogy because it made no sense, or indeed the sort of person who didn't like any of David Lynch's films because (ahem) NONE OF THEM MAKE ANY SENSE...in short, if you are an incurable pedant, you will not enjoy this film and you might as well stop reading this review. Seriously, stop reading, don't watch the film and go calculate Pi or something.

If, however, you have an appreciation for tightly-edited, emotionally engaging, aesthetically pleasing cinema with a brilliant soundtrack and at times breathless pacing, please allow me to take a few minutes of your time.

Hanna is the story of a teenage girl who lives in total isolation with her father. She has vague memories of her mother, and these memories, combined with her (literally) encyclopedic knowledge fuel her desire to leave the relative safety of her father's protection in the frozen hinterland of northern Finland.

In a way, I don't want to say any more than that. If you've read the other reviews on this site that give away more, then I'm very sorry for you, but if not then suffice it to say that her father's motivation for keeping her in this state of isolation appears to be protection, combined with a desire to train her in survival/assassination skills, in preparation for...well that would be telling.

Of course, you don't need me to tell you that she leaves her father's protection and the story proper begins. As Chekov said "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no-one is thinking of using it" and boy, does that rifle get used.

Saoirse Ronan is brilliant as Hanna. At times seemingly invincible, at others pathetically vulnerable, owing to her complete inexperience of the world. We see the world from her unique perspective as she struggles to understand non-familiar interaction, the natural ease of recreation and even the basic electrical appliances that we all take for granted.

The story moves us from one location to the next, painting a rich tapestry of colour and culture, whilst simultaneously (and somewhat comically) contrasting Hanna's desperate need to traverse these territories with the bourgeoisie's seeming obsession with "experiencing" as many of them as possible.

The acting is solid throughout. The only truly great performance comes from Ronan, but Tom Hollander, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana all turn out good performances that serve the picture well.

However the true credit for this film has to be laid at the feet of Joe Wright. None of his previous films could possibly prepare you for Hanna. Wright's mastery of both a tight, intricate plot such as in Atonement, combined with his incredible skill in making this beautiful, thoughtful, action-packed coming of age story mark him out as a director of real class.

It is true that Hanna suffers from a few plot holes, but that plot is delivered in such an appealing, exciting and above-all entertaining film that anyone who isn't compiling continuity errors for some god-awful TV programme that relishes in the fact that THIS ISN'T REAL LIFE, IT'S ACTUALLY ONLY A FILM!! should have a blast letting this film take them along for the ride.

If you want reality, watch a documentary. If you want a very good fiction, watch Hanna.

By an odd coincidence in the same year this film was released another film of a similar type came out, Columbiana.

Both at their core are stories of young women in a life they do not want doing things to people they do like. Neither is an Oscar winner, nor even near Oscar territory.

Hana has an astonishing cast. Ronan found an chance to let audiences around the world learn she can hold the camera with those amazing eyes of hers. Bana never gave a bad performance in his life. Blanchett however treated us to the worst American "accent" in the history of film and a character overall that had no credibility. Not her fault. It was written that way.

But I digress.

The point is that if you are going to try to do one of these films, than don't outthink the audience or yourself. Just do it. Columbiana with a lesser known cast (and less of a following) is the far superior film.

HANNA gets an A for effort, but seriously at some level in Hollywood the people paying the bills should insist on reading the script before they start writing checks.

I'm appalled this got hate at all Hanna is so awesome! Before Saisore Ronan was super known she was in this badass action aficionado, well filmed and slick soundtrack. Almost feels like a Luc Besson action flick with different style. So much captivating fun throughout, it's such a pleasant surprise for the ones that would appreciate it because it's quite a treat to me! I disagree with the few flaws I think there're voided out by the last half.

Let's get the obvious out of the way, shall we? The plot is derivative of so many other things it's not true, with Nikita being the obvious reference point. The acting isn't particularly strong, the script is barely adequate and the plot is neither internally coherent nor believable. In other words it's like every other action film ever made from Bond to Bourne and all points between. So what was everyone expecting who went to see this movie? Shakespeare?

On the other hand I would rate this as one of those rare experiences of seeing pure film. That is to say that there is the perfect marriage between image and music that makes it something quite different to the normal. The composition and direction of this film are really quite extraordinary with scene after scene catching the eye and making the commonplace clichés of the action genre seem fresh. The choice of music is inspired and the way that is has been synced to the action serves to heighten the tension in the scenes.

The film also manages to avoid the usual problem of over-reliance on CGI with the effects that are used being spare and for a reason. At one point we have a chase and fight in a container port and I was expecting the worst. Where did this scenario come from? I suspect it was one of the early Dirty Harry films and the container port shootout/chase has since become a compulsory element in all bad action movies and features in multiple episodes of TV thrillers. In 99 times out of 100 it's lazy, it's boring and it's the same as every other one you've seen. Well Joe Wright has done the seemingly impossible by making his container port scene exciting and different.

Look, you're not going to learn the meaning of life or even the meaning of the plot by watching this movie. If you enjoy cinema however, and by that I mean the use of images, light and music to propel the story then I think you'll like this.

This is a story about a unique and peculiar child named Hanna (Saoirse Ronan), on the run from presumably the CIA, finding out about herself and the world during a life-death struggle with a heartless American intelligence officer (Cate Blanchett). Blanchett scares as the cold and calculated killer spy trying to eliminate loose ends from an old case. Eric Bana is the protective father who excels at displaying the right emotions. The movie takes us from the serene and snowy arctic where Ronan grows up training to be an assassin to her travels across Europe with a quirky and clueless family on vacation to reach her target destination. We have an interesting performance by Tom Hollander as the evil accomplice chasing Ronan. An exciting ride.

From the trailers Hanna looks like Bourne series with a young girl as a heroine. However, there is not much action in this movie and the action scenes that are present are not that great. The fighting is not choreographed well and camera angle is switched often during the sequences to hide this fact. This leaves you let down and nauseous. This movie is a more of a coming of age story with a target audience of adolescent girls. This makes Hanna a very bizarre combination of genres that will likely disappoint both action flick lovers and people who enjoy more watching drama movies.

Overall I would rate this movie meh (with a shrug of shoulders). Maybe rent it when it comes out on DVD and forget about it.

5.5/10

A friend got me tickets to an advance screening, telling me it was a spy thriller with Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. I hadn't seen a trailer and was expecting something along the lines of Mission Impossible. Was I wrong.

I'm not great at doing reviews, but I feel I need to say something about this amazing movie! During it, I was very aware at how engrossed I was, hanging on every scene. It was visually stunning - some of the scenes or transitions between them were so beautiful. The title "HANNA" on the screen reminded me a lot of Kill Bill. In fact, I felt Saoirse Ronan's Hanna is a teenage version of The Bride from Kill Bill and Leeloo from The Fifth Element.

I've seen Cate Blanchett in a couple of movies, but was impressed by her portrayal of a ruthless agent. I hate to say that Eric Bana's character (Erik) was "almost" forgettable - in the end, the movie was really not about him. But he did show up once wet and without much clothing and that was just fine by me.

I am not a fan of violence (and Tarantino's bugs me a lot), but I was OK with the quantity and visibility of it in this movie. Fans of Kill Bill should enjoy Hanna.

Hanna tells the story of a man who raises his daughter to be an assassin, when the mission comes around however will she be ready?

This multi award winning critically acclaimed thriller stars Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett & Eric Bana. Ronan once again steals the show and demonstrates again why she is one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood.

A thrill ride without being a dumb action movie in many ways it reminded me of Taken (2008) as it has much heart and certainly some smarts behind it.

Made as a collaboration between American, German & British production companies I can see why it is held in such high esteem. Though I didn't exactly find it revolutionary it is undeniably a well made film.

Solid cast, great writing and highly fitting score this is well worth anybodys time.

The Good:

Well scored

Ronans performance

Well written piece of cinema

The Bad:

Blanchetts accent

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Ronan makes everyone else look bad by comparison

Hannah is a wholly unexpected, but entirely enjoyable film. However, this is not the all out, balls to the wall action film the trailer might suggest. There is a high art house value to the film, and it takes it's time letting you get to know the characters, most notably the titular character Hannah, as she explores the world for the first time. What we have is the kind of action film that comes around every once in a while that values it's characters, but also demonstrates some great action pieces.

Hannah tells the story of the 16 year old girl who, after living her whole life in the woods, is set upon the world. At the same time, her release into the world sets in motion a man hunt by a CIA agent with her own agenda. I've read many comments comparing this to Kick Ass, and I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. While these two films share loose ingredients, they are wholly different films, with Hannah arguably the superior film.

Beautifully shot and fantastic all the way around, the film elevates itself to art by successfully balancing Bourne-style action and a beautiful coming of age story. Through the film, we see the world as Hannah sees it, with a sense of wonder and beauty, but also a sense of confusion. Sound is used to great effect to depict this as well, and I will be very disappointed if this film doesn't get nominated for every sound award next year. The cast and talent behind the film also help to elevate it above the standard pic. Particularly Joe Wright, who treads into different territory, but nonetheless proves that he is an extremely versatile director. Saoirse Ronan also excels as the lead here, playing up the hardened, but vulnerable character. It's not an easy role to fill the shoes of, with both a physical and emotional demand on the characters, but in Wright's hands, Saoirse nails it.

While the film does have moments of drag here and there, even these moments are filled with something visually or audibly interesting. If it's not the Chemical Brother's fantastic soundtrack or a unique shot here and there, it's the stylish editing and unique focus. I will say that this won't be for everyone. This is not a film that's constant action and it does have an independent quality to it. But for those that take the journey, you'll find a very rewarding film here that succeeds where many action films don't. I'll even go so far as to say that this is my favorite film of 2011 so far.

Watched Hanna at a sneak preview screening in San Francisco. Overall, the movie is fine, though the unclear character motivation was a bit confusing and detracted from the overall enjoyment.

The character of Hanna (Ronan) seem to be influenced by quite a bit of anime, but certainly fresh for American mainstream cinema. Miss Ronan did a good job switching between the soldier's "thousand yard stare" and the wild-eyed wonder of a child who had not seen the world (though heard/read about it). It's also refreshing to see a girl who did not use a single bit of sexuality to do what she needs.

The character of Erik (Bana) is a general Bourne-influenced tough guy, nothing else came across. He's a secondary.

The character of Marisa (Blanchett) as a ruthless "heavy" is... rather one-dimensional. She's the primary heavy, but she recruited a bunch of secondary heavies along the way.

The action sequences are generally made quite well, with good hand-to- hand combat sequences, but there's a bit too much MMA / Wrestling moves like flip / body slam. Not quite enough gunplay or weapons play, IMHO, but it's still interesting.

The main problem I have with the movie is about character motivation. What exactly was the protagonist's mission? Was it simply to kill ________? If so, why? There was zero hints on what she's "ready" for, or why. They could have fixed that with only a sentence or two.

Same with the antagonist. What was her motivation?

The motivations are the biggest problem in this movie.

There were also a couple goofs (one's already documented) that I have issues with.

Overall, the movie is enjoyable, if you can rationalize the mission, the motivations and its aftermath.

I first saw this in a theatre in 2011. Then again few years later on a dvd which i own.

Revisited it again online as me n my family is watching Hanna, the tv series on Amazon Prime.

The movie starts off in a desolated jungle mostly frozen due to the winter. Some amazing photography.

Then we get to see some good combat training and general knowledge training.

The tunnel fight sequence where Eric Bana's character takes down 3 men is well choreographed.

Hanna's chase sequence (on containers n the way she takes down a man with a knife) is tension filled n well shot. Some top notch Pencak silat.

The character of Isaac, a hitman hired by CIA agent who can't even complete his job but keeps on whistling, is a bit irritating.

What was the need to kill the old man in Morocco.

Why the character of Blanchett is repeatedly shown cleaning her teeth and that too with instruments (dental scaler) straight from a dentist's clinic is beyond me.

Why Sebastian's family is interrogated when the entire mission is unofficial is again a bouncer.

And what happens to the family is also not shown.

Through smart camera work and audio use you are sucked into the story whether you like it or not. And at times you won't. The film offers a dystopian view of the world leaving the viewer uncomfortable but intrigued. While you root for Hanna throughout the movie, she doesn't fully capture your heart. She remains at a distance and purposefully isn't very likeable or relatable.

The acting leaves nothing more to wish for, especially on the part of Cate Blanchett. The ending however does very much disappoint.

If you are looking for a fully realised story where you can sit back and relax, perhaps you should look a little further. If you want a strange, cult-like movie that leaves you with a rather strange feeling, then this movie might be for you.