Hanna

"Hanna" is a sudden change of pace for English director Joe Wright. Having helmed a big-screen adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride and Prejudice" in 2005 and a 2007 adaptation of Ian McEwan's romantic period drama "Atonement," the BAFTA-winning filmmaker is typically associated with the more snooty side of British movie-making, though both films listed are utterly sublime. And while 2009's modern-day drama "The Soloist" was also his doing, "Hanna" is a new territory altogether.

The film is an actioner, notable for the artful sensibilities that Wright has no doubt brought to the production alongside writers Seth Lochhead and David Farr. This is an action movie that lives outside of the mainstream world of big-bucks blockbusters, the ones that have either a public building or a sports car exploding every five to ten seconds and a muscle-bound ex-wrestler in the starring role.

Instead, we have a frail teenage girl named Hanna in the leading position, 16 years of age and played by Saoirse Ronan, with whom Wright previously worked on his masterpiece, "Atonement." With her big blue eyes, her long fair hair and the freckles dotting her fresh young face, she hardly stands out as a physical threat -- but looks can be deceiving in the world of film.

We meet her as she silently hunts a deer in the snowy landscapes of Finland. It is here that she lives with her father and self-defence trainer, Erik Heller (Eric Bana, "Star Trek"), in a secluded cabin that sits amongst the wooded wilderness. Hanna has never been in touch with civilisation before, her father keeping her sheltered from anywhere she can be spotted by the CIA -- you see, Hanna is a rather prized possession, and the American government wants her and Erik, who is himself a wanted man.

However, those darn Americans are alerted as to the location of the father and daughter, and the cabin is ambushed, the two splitting up. Hanna is taken into custody and placed in a large room to be interrogated about Erik's whereabouts. She asks to see Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), a rogue CIA agent with a shaky Southern accent who we learn is somehow involved with Hanna's past.

A fake Agent Wiegler is sent in for security purposes, and the real CIA agent watches through a screen as her decoy's neck is snapped by the teenage captive, who skilfully escapes from the building without breaking a nail, slaughtering a few guards along the way. Thinking her mission of killing Agent Wiegler is complete, Hanna runs out into the outside world for the first time to meet back up with her father in Berlin while the government chases after the adolescent assassin.

"Hanna" is essentially a contemporary fairytale, with references to The Brothers Grimm scattered throughout, and a scene in which the titular girl actually steps into a gingerbread house (it's part of an abandoned amusement park, I might add). The character of Wiegler is then filling the boots of The Wicked Witch, a villainous and menacing wench chasing after our seemingly innocent young protagonist, a sweet little girl who only wants to live a normal life, unfamiliar with what society is actually like.

Ronan is playing an utterly fascinating character, a girl whose past is unclear for the most part. She's a juxtaposition of child-like naivety and trigger-pulling, throat-slitting viciousness, trained her whole life in the art of self-defence. All of her knowledge stems from the pages of an encyclopaedia her father has read to her over the years, her memory able to automatically tap into every bit of information collected from the entire book -- still, she's entirely clueless about life and what it is to experience everyday reality.

The film is not necessarily action-packed, but when the bullets fly and the knuckles swing, "Hanna" is heart-pumping stuff. Wright has every reason to be called a visionary, his direction absolutely breathtaking, cramming in a whole barrage of nerve-racking tension. The escape from the facility in which Hanna is trapped is hypnotically edited and visually creative, boosted up by a funky score from The Chemical Brothers. Just like every other action set-piece contained within, it's incredibly well-shot -- you'll find no shaky-cam nonsense round these parts.

And then there's Wright's signature move of an extended tracking shot, for which he gained much acclaim in the technique's use in the jaw-dropping five-minute Dunkirk sequence in "Atonement." Here, it's used to unfold an action scene in which Erik suspects he's being followed, is proven to be right, and intricately beats the crap out of a gang of sharply dressed men in an underground subway station, all done with not one cut. It's impressive stuff, the director very clearly showing off, but doing it in style.

With a flourish of sci-fi thrown into the mix of action, drama and some touches of feminism (take that, Zack "Sucker Punch" Snyder), "Hanna" is an absorbing, technically mesmerising girl-power thriller. Wright's direction is nothing short of stunning, taking the film to a whole new level of tasteful awesomeness, and Ronan is simply enchanting as the teenage femme fatale. She very nearly gives Hit Girl from "Kick-Ass" a run for her money.

9/10