Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Hanna
2011
**
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Cate Blanchett, Jesica Barden, Michelle Dockery

Joe Wright's artsy action film about a young female assassin draws influence from fairy tales and films such as Leon, Nikita and, if you will, The Ballad of Jack and Rose. 16-year-old Hanna has been brought up in seclusion in the Finnish wilderness where her father, an ex-CIA agent, has trained her into a multilingual killing machine with literally encyclopaedic knowledge of life. Now she feels ready to face the real world and the evil witch who killed her mother. This promising but preposterous set-up leads to a lifeless, confusing and self-important film which regularly takes liberties with logic. Wright creates an unusual atmosphere for an ultimately conventional story that never gets under the skin of its intriguing heroine. Saoirse Ronan gives another commanding performance in the title role, but Cate Blanchett is terribly hammy as the villainess. The Chemical Brothers are responsible for the thumping soundtrack