Hanna Movie Review Roundup: Hanna 2011 Movie 'Decent'

A trained killer suffering an identity crisis? Not the freshest idea in the genre (at least she doesn't have amnesia), and your eyes might roll at certain plot points and dialogue. But roll with it, and your eyes and ears will be dazzled by expertly choreographed action punctuated with the Chemical Brothers' driving techno beats.

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.

Which isn’t to say that “Hanna’’ is bad — it rockets along entertainingly enough for most of its running time — only that it’s made with a self-importance the story itself doesn’t warrant.

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. Ms. Ronan is an otherworldly beauty with a gift for stillness and has alabaster skin that, depending on how it’s lighted, can look creamily alive or morbidly white. In “Hanna” she enters with a face nearly as blank as paper and devoid of obvious emotion, her eerie, translucent blue eyes here transformed into opaque pools.