Hanna 2011

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The fact that Ronan is this good at this young age is what's truly frightening here. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Blessed with considerable virtues, including a clever concept, crackling filmmaking and a charismatic star, it ultimately squanders all of them, undone by an unfortunate lack of subtlety and restraint. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A movie that, in the end, is no smarter than any other run-of-the-mill cinematic death fest, just grimmer, bleaker and sadder. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: An intriguing enough remix of well-established assassin-on-the-run routine whose greatest asset is its young star. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: The surprising thing about Hanna is that for the first hour and change, it kind of makes you like the bill of goods it's selling... Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: In the end there might not be much to this tale other than titillation, but there's plenty to be said for Ms. Ronan, who was the best thing about "Atonement" and holds her ground against forceful screen presences like Ms. Blanchett and Mr. Bana. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: What keeps us hooked is Ronan, a young actress of seemingly limitless abilities, and the tension she creates between Hanna's inhumanly agile body and quizzical eyes, which turn cold only when she pulls the trigger. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: "Hanna" is, on a certain level, ridiculous. But the way Mr. Wright conjures his images and parcels out his narrative is hypnotic and so seductive that wherever the film is heading we want to follow. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Too concerned with looking adult than being mature, and that's a death sentence for an action wannabe. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: It's only when Ronan takes over that the film discovers a still, focused center. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The film exists in a peculiar no-man's land between Hollywood and art. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's Ronan who carries the film. She got a best-supporting-actress Oscar nomination for Wright's "Atonement," but here she's asked to do much more, and she nails it. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: There is not a single moment in the new film that is not striking or smartly put together or just plain considered. Wright leaves nothing to chance. I don't know that there's a better way to smother a movie. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Because they have nothing to gain from this, logic would dictate that they just stay put, but then the movie couldn't turn into a live-action video game with a preteen piling up bodies like Rambo. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Hanna" presents the problem of the well-made diversion that is, at its core, repellent. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: This film is bound to give the home-schooling movement a bad name, unless, of course, you're running a home school for assassins. Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: A chase-thriller for the art-house crowd, Hanna is brisk, satisfying and often surprising. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: "Hanna" plays out as a visceral fairy tale about a naif discovering a world both fascinating and dangerous. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Saoirse Ronan is a talented young actress who tends to be better than the movies she's in. And that tendency holds true with "Hanna," an unsteady thriller that staggers when it should sprint. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A picture-book story about complicated daddies, wicked stepmothers, and daughters who learn to be brave in the dark woods. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Wright has got plenty of moves, but they seem applied rather than organic, noticeable in their own right rather than an inevitable part of the overall fabric. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The film is never more than an amalgamation of other movies. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: An entertainingly nutty action thriller from the director Joe Wright. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: I gave up trying to keep track of the plot and wondered, Just what the hell is going on here? Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Although its camera moves are fluid and its art direction elegant, Hanna doesn't travel anyplace unusual. The point of all its battling is just to battle. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The forced coming-of-age parable that filmmaker Joe Wright laces with fairy-tale symbolism is heavy-handed from the get-go. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: This J.V. "Salt" is effective only for a few minutes at a time, in some occasionally ripping action scenes set to a vivid Chemical Brothers score. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The result is unbearable junk. What went wrong? Just about everything. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Hanna rocks. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An intriguing, original thriller that owes as much of a debt to the likes of Frankenstein, the Brothers Grimm, David Lynch, and A Clockwork Orange as to The Professional and The Bourne Identity. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: "Hanna" is kinetic, vibrant, sometimes a completely insane adventure; one of the best times you'll have at the movies this year. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Wright combines his two genres into a stylish exercise that perversely includes some sentiment and insight. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Hanna is a fairy tale of lightning speed, gritty action and shocking gravity, all driven by the electronic beat of a hypnotic score by the Chemical Brothers. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Hanna" is almost a terrific movie, or a partly terrific one, but all its giddy, improvised wonder resolves into nothing more than a ruthless, symmetrical story about a murderous monster. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film is an uneven affair, good enough that you wish it had fully succeeded. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: If the late director Krzysztof Kieslowski had made a mainstream film, it might have looked a lot like this one. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Hanna is far from perfect but, courtesy of star Saoirse Ronan and director Joe Wright, it's one of those imperfect pictures that manages to command and hold our attention straight from the opening frames. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: It's a feast for the eyes, but we're still hungry. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Heart missed, but spine tingled. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: While the film as a whole may be episodic and wayward, and not always in a good way, the action scenes are uniformly sharp, inventive and gripping. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: This fairy tale may be Grimm, but it's also quite gripping. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Joe Wright's Hanna is an exuberantly crafted chase thriller that pulses with energy from its adrenaline-pumping first minutes to its muted bang of a finish. Read more

Eric Hynes, Village Voice: Despite its 21st-century trappings and proto-feminist protagonist, Hanna strangely reverts to reactionary politics as usual. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Is it a great movie? No. Nagging questions and plot holes start appearing the minute the endorphins and adrenaline wear off. But it isn't a bad one, either. Read more