FILM REVIEW: Hanna (12A)

Taiwanese director Ang Lee wasn’t an obvious choice to director Brokeback Mountain, an epic love story set in 1960s Wyoming, yet East met Wild West with dazzling results.

Now director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) tries his hand at the action genre with this fast-paced thriller about a girl with extraordinary powers.

The London-born film-maker imprints his distinctive artistic vision on Seth Lochhead and David Farr’s script.

He conjures a mood of impending doom as the conflicted characters traverse the globe before a climactic showdown that hammers home the fairy-tale allegory.

However, aesthetic concerns occasionally get in the way of a jolly good romp and consequently, Hanna sits nervously between two distinctive audiences - arthouse and multiplex - and will disappoint both.

Sixteen-year-old Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) lives in snowbound Scandinavia with her father Erik (Eric Bana), honing the fighting skills she will need for the perilous mission that lies ahead: to kill ruthless CIA agent Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett).