HANNA

Year: 2011
USA: Focus Features
UK: Universal Pictures International (UK)
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Williams, Michelle Dockery, Tom Hollander, Jessica Barden, Paris Arrowsmith, John MacMilla, Tim Beckman
Director: Joe Wright
Countries: USA / UK / Germany
USA & UK: 111 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence and one use of strong language
USA Release Date: 8 April 2011
UK Release Date: 6 May 2011

Synopsis

"Once you flip the switch, there's no going back. Adapt or die."

Filmed on location in Europe and Morocco, HANNA stars Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (ATONEMENT) as a 16 year-old teenage girl, who goes out into the world for the first time and ends up having to battle for her life. Director Joe Wright (ATONEMENT) weaves elements of dark fairy tales into the adventure thriller.

Hanna is bright, inquisitive and a devoted daughter. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a solider; these come from being raised by her widowed father Erik (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of North Finland. Erik has taught Hanna to hunt, put her through extreme self-defence workouts, and home-schooled her with only an encyclopaedia and a book of fairy tales. She’s been living a life unlike any other teenager; her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. But in the outside world there is unfinished business for Hanna’s family. It is with a mixture of pride and apprehension that Erik realizes his daughter can no longer be held back.

This turning point in Hanna’s adolescence is a sharp one; she is separated from Erik and embarks on the mission that she was always destined for. Before she and her father can reunite as planned in Berlin, Hanna is captured by agents dispatched by ruthless intelligence operative Marissa Wiegler (Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett). Marissa, a career agent, has long been harbouring secrets that tie her to Hanna and Erik.

Detained for observation and held beneath the Moroccan desert, Hanna soon turns the tables on her captors. Her daring escape to back to the surface thrusts her into an unfamiliar landscape and world, which she must quickly learn to adapt to. Marissa secretly orders a team of agents after Hanna, and joins the deadly pursuit herself. While Hanna journeys across Europe and nears her ultimate target, she faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.

Original score by The Chemical Brothers.