Hanna - 2 1/2 smiles

In “Hanna,” a fairy tale cloaked in spy clothing, a mysterious young girl (Saoirse Ronan) is raised by her father, Erik (Eric Bana), a rogue CIA agent, in the Arctic wilderness. He’s taught her German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and English and he’s trained her to gain the upper hand in a fight, any fight. Hanna has an encyclopedia’s worth of knowledge, but she has no practical knowledge of the outside world. If she wants to leave her isolated environment, Erik has made it clear that she must activate a transponder, which will put CIA agent Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) on her trail.

“Hanna” is a coming-of-age story as much as a thriller-chase movie and its young star, Saoirse Ronen, is its greatest asset. She effectively conveys Hanna’s unusual abilities and cunning as well as her vulnerability. Her Hanna is a well trained weapon first and an inquisitive teen second. She befriends Sophie (Jessica Barden), a girl her age and fights men twice her size (a whistling Tom Hollander). As the villain, Blanchett with her Southern accent is the big bad witch with a clean teeth fetish. (Don’t ask.) A weakness in the script is the detour Hanna takes when she meets Sophie and her family. Although this interlude further illustrates Marissa’s single-minded pursuit of Hanna, the pace drags. And the recurring fairy tale motif seems fresh at first, but by the time the final confrontation takes place in a Grimm-themed amusement park, with Marissa emerging from a gaping wolf’s mouth, it’s way too obvious. Directed by Joe Wright, “Hanna” has style, but the main reason to see this movie is its star. 4/8/11