First look at 'Hanna,' which re-teams Saoirse Ronan and director Joe Wright

By Sarah Sluis

Today I had the opportunity to see two clips from Hanna, an upcoming Focus Features release that sadly won't hit theatres for another six months. The child assassin picture (you heard me right) re-teams Saoirse Ronan and director Joe Wright, who worked together on Atonement. According to Wright, Ronan specifically asked for him to be brought on as a director. Ronan plays Hanna, a girl who grew up isolated

in the woods with her father (Eric Bana). She wants to make her way in the world, but her father requires she kill a CIA agent (Cate Blanchett) first. The spy-thriller like plot undergoes many twists and turns that Wright half-explained; at one point Hanna is captured and thinks she kills the CIA agent--only to meet again with the real agent later.

The move to the action genre is a departure for Wright, who's done buttoned-up English literature adaptations and the classical music-centered The Soloist. In a pleasant surprise, he carries his aesthetic through to Hanna, to pretty impressive preliminary results.

Wright possesses that rare gift that blesses directors like James Cameron and eludes Michael Bay. He can lay out a space immaculately. Each scene had a clear geography, which was a particular challenge in the second scene--set in a prison and including many shots from surveillance cameras. Wright says he has a great editor (Paul Tothill, who has done each of his films), but the fluidity of each scene was very impressive, especially without any musical score or completed sound mixing to help carry the audience through some trickier cuts.

The emotional arc of Hanna was also on display, especially in the second scene we saw, set in a prison. Brought in for questioning, Hanna first acts in the way you expect her to: She's slightly odd due to her years living away from society, and scared and crying. She then turns the tables and swiftly does away with a CIA agent and a few guards, and escapes. The girl is sixteen. The transformation was stunning, just a wee bit humorous, and breathless--just like Hanna's captors, you barely realize what just happened.

Wright says he was drawn to the creative and philosophical possibilities of depicting a "Tarzan" or "Being There" character--someone with an outsider view of society. Hanna's character is an enigma, and one that will reveal herself through her actions, not through words. For example, Hanna starts crying and then "hugs" the CIA agent, straddling her in a slightly off, creepy way. The reason for this is soon revealed--it's the perfect position to snap her neck.

Action movies are too often stupid, boring, and lazily executed--as if all an audience needs is a chase scene and explosion. They also tend to create only superficial characters. As far as I can tell, Hanna will have neither of those problems.

Focus plans to show the footage at New York Comic Con, where I'm sure it will be warmly received.