HANNA

Released in April 2011, Focus Features, along with Director Joe Wright,  have brought us together again with the amazing Saoirse (she pronounces it 'Sur-shuh') Ronan, the 7th-youngest actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in 'Atonement'. Along with Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, the cast alone makes 'Hanna' a must-see. The scenery is spectacular, and filmed in its natural settings, across Europe. The action is real and realistic, without tons of whiz bang 'omg are you kidding me' FX.  Over 80,000 viewers gave HANNA a 6.9 of 10 score on IMDb. I'd give it an 8.5!

Raised in Ireland by her acting parents, 18-year old Saoirse possesses an intensity and ability to become her character that will serve her extremely well during what I, for one, hope will be a very long acting career. Her eyes hold you hostage and even if she blinks you remain tethered to their pull... She's one of my current handful of actors and actresses that I will watch in any movie, because I know I'll not be disappointed and/or wasting my time by doing so. Starring as Hanna, Saoirse carries the movie, even during a few moments (no worries, no spoilers here!) I might have giggled during, had it not been for her ruling the scene; she WAS Hanna, through and through, with a quiet and no-nonsense believability not unlike Noomi Rapace, the original 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (another fave of mine). Hanna's facial expressions are riveting as her character, a 16-year old girl, is being raised in the wilds of Finland by her widowed father (hottie Eric Bana), to become an assassin.

Cate Blanchett needs no introduction, and is another fave of mine. Cate can do anything; here, she plays an intelligence operative, and a real bitch. Oscar-nominated and starring in a diversity of roles in films ranging from 'The Gift' to 'Aviator' to 'The Lord of the Rings' to 'Elizabeth', young Saiorse could do worse than to take a page from Cate's playbook of life. 

Eric Bana also needs no intro, and though his film career is already impressive, I believe his best is yet to come. Playing Hanna's father, his rabid desire to train her while raising her, to be even more deadly than was he as a former CIA agent, is palpable. He hates the training, but believes it life-and-death necessary. Opening scenes, snow on the ground, silence in the air, grab your attention with relentless searching as to why this is so important, so urgent, to him. And how well this teenager accepts it as such, from her beloved father. 

Watching this father's heart wince as he senses that this safe bubble of life he has created for them both will not be enough to keep Hanna there forever, is so interesting to watch. This world is all Hanna has ever known, and she's inherently too intelligent to accept that it is all there is to life. Questions arise, curiosity leeches into the fiber of her being, and she can no longer be contained. The time her father has dreaded and hoped to avoid is at hand, as Hanna determines it's time to break free and make her own way through this adventure thriller...