Hanna

Running on Empty With Powerful Fumes
Hanna, PG-13,***, Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Barden, Tom Hollander, Oliva Williams. Focus Feature film. Director Joe Wright. Length: 111 minutes.

As the movie opens, the audience views a young girl Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) hunting a deer, killing the deer, and dressing it. Her father Erik (Eric Bana) is her teacher and trainer. He uses all sorts of methods to train Hanna with self defense, killing, hunting, and learning information in the real world.
They live in Finland. However, their home is in a remote cabin deep in the woods. They have been there since Hanna was a small child. Hanna is very smart and intelligent about history, geography, philosophy, etc. However, she has never interacted with the outside world. Therefore, her communication skills, and worldly knowledge are limited.
Without interaction with individuals her own age and other adults, she is restricted in her knowledge of social skills. I found the lessons on whales, geography, psychology, foreign languages, and general knowledge educationally stimulating.
Knowledge is a necessity, but so are social skills and human interaction. All of her skills are being taught for a mission and a reason. Erik is a former CIA agent with a vendetta. He is using Hanna to achieve these goals. The reason for training Hanna is revealed later in the movie.
Marissa (Cate Blanchett) is a CIA agent with some very devious plans. At one time Marissa was Erik’s handler. She has been trying to find Erik and Hanna for many years. The reasons for her plan will eventually be revealed to the audience.
Erik leaves and Hanna is taken from the cabin in the woods by the CIA agents. She is one mean killing machine. If I may take the liberty, the movie reminded me of an old Three Stooges saying. Hannah may need “anna canna panna san.” The saying had something to do with what was needed to help with the situation.
“Hanna” could have had a little of the above in order to make the grade. It is an exciting and a somewhat fun movie. However, the editing is very choppy. Moving from one scene to the other with action shots did not fair well with me. It was as if the characters just appeared in a different environment without showing exactly how they arrived there.
Just remember, it is just a movie. Enjoy it for entertainment, and if it is a cup of tea the reader would like to drink from, go for it.
Another thing that bothers me about the film is the running. Hanna has to run a lot. It is much like my uncle said one time about westerns. Sometimes the cowboys ride horses too long. In other words to much screen time is spent on running in this movie. Erik runs a lot. In fact, just writing about all of the running in the movie makes me tired.
One of the funniest characters in the movie is Sophie (Jessica Barden) a young girl about the same age as Hanna. Hanna meets Sophie and her family on her journey to meet Erik. Sophie is outgoing and funny. Sophie’s mother is another interesting character. Her idea of life is experiencing and learning from what happens. I would say she is sort of a hippie in today’s times.
I cannot enthusiastically recommend this film, but it did have its moments. The plot is somewhat original, and the dialogue is interesting. Establishing a young girl in the world for the first time with intelligence, but without social skills is a scenario worth praising the creativity behind the writing.