Movie Review for Hanna

From the very beginning of the movie, we find out that Hanna is a very skillful hunter who can blend into her surroundings and stalk her prey as quiet as a mouse. She lives with her father, Erik (played by Eric Bana,) in a frozen foresty area in a small cabin. They survive off of the bare necessities by hunting down their own food and train for combat on a regular basis with close combat stick fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and with knife play. At night, Erik reads to Hanna from small children's educational books reading her various facts about whale's tongues and populations of various continents and individual countries. It seems as though the older Hanna has gotten, the more she is quickly out-growing this way of living and is greater intrigued by the facts in these books and wishes to experience them first-hand...especially when her father gives her the definition of music. She wants to hear and feel the rhythm for herself.

One day her father asks her if she is fully prepared and shows her a transponder that would give away their hidden position and she flips the switch which means that a woman named Marissa will try to hunt her down. Eventually this gets explained why, but is rather confusing at first. Hannah's father, Erik, is an ex-special agent who had abandoned his trade for the life of solitude with his daughter. The only problem with this -- the agency now wants Erik and his daughter dead or alive. They then split up and play to meet back in Germany and get there by any means possible while avoiding becoming the prey to the agency. Erik swims his own way after public transportation while Hannah is quickly taken to a facility in northern Africa.

This movie is highly action-packed and will keep you anticipating what will happen next in the plot line as Cate Balnchett's character, Marissa, hunts down Erik and Hanna across Germany and the rest of Europe. The camera is highly mobile in this movie, much like a movie like any in the Bourne series or Cloverfield...just with a little bit less motion sickness. The director, Joe Wright, isn't known mainly for his action scenes in movies, but he seems to accomplish his movement in film through the ways of a "shaky camera" strategy like most European directors seem to. (His previous film credits include: "Atonement," Pride and Prejudice," and "The Soloist.")

If you are a fan of the Bourne serious starring Matt Damon, I would highly suggest "Hanna" for you because you will like the action and the similar plot type between movies. Personally, I was more of a fan of the latter series, perhaps because of Matt Damon's acting ability or the overall better writing of the script.

I got exactly what I wanted out of "Hanna:" a younger girl kicking ass and not bothering to stop long enough to take names, nice cinematography and landscapes in the background of the movie, with a slightly above average plot. I wish the story's background would have gone more in-depth, but it was still good nonetheless. It is still a suggestable watch, but not a must-see unless you are craving an action movie lately.