Hanna – 7.8

An action-packed chase movie, very much a la mode of Bourne Ultimatum, with Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett in the Matt Damon and Joan Allen roles, respectively. The pseudo sci-fi premise, too, is similar – oh, those CIA experiments gone awry! – and the endings equally inconclusive, leaving patrons in the men’s room speculating about a sequel. The exotic locales are equally dramatic, with our heroine here moving effortlessly from the Arctic Circle to Morocco to Germany. But what makes this movie so engaging is the presence and physical appeal of Ronan. She’s not a pinup beauty, but is easy on the eyes, much the way Mireille Enos is in Killing Game or Helen Mirren was in Prime Suspect – as opposed to, say, Penelope Cruz in Havana or Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. She’s believable, which is essential in a movie that would otherwise strain credulity. The only obvious slip-up: after an upbringing in the wilderness, Hanna has no problem escaping from a super-mechanized detention facility but then is confounded by electric light switches in an Arab house.