Dove Review

This movie has a strong enough story to sustain the viewer’s interest for the 111-minute runtime as well as a capable young talent in actress Saoirse Ronan who plays the title role of Hanna. In addition it is one of those films which prompt some thinking while the viewer is watching which usually means some intelligent writing is a factor. There is at least one exception to this but first, the good stuff. In one scene the teenage Hanna, on the run, stops at a small fleabag motel. Yet her reaction to seeing electricity at work for the first time is fascinating as it reveals her innocence despite her training as a soldier to kill if necessary. As she watches the florescent light flicker on and off while playing with the switch, in addition to watching TV for the first time, feeling the cool air from a ceiling fan and feeling a slight burn from a coffee pot, the viewer’s attention is totally captured. On the other side of the coin, a scene in which she escapes her pursuers by holding on to the bottom of a truck (think “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Indiana Jones”) is a bit too much to buy.

This is a story which reaches a full-circle conclusion as Hanna is determined to take care of the woman responsible for her mother’s death. The closeness she shares with her father, played by Eric Bana, and the friendship (her first one) she develops with a fellow teen girl is touching, although the brief scene in which she kisses her friend on the lips was awkward and totally unnecessary. However, it is the strong language and violence level, at times bloody and graphic, which prevents us from awarding our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this film.

Dove Rating Details

0

Faith

None

0

Integrity

An elk is killed by an arrow and its innards removed with bloody results; several people are shot and one man in the eye with bloody results; several fist fights and punches thrown; a man stabs another man with a sharp pole; a man is hung upside down and has been killed by arrows which protrude from his body; a character is shot in the side and another hit with an arrow in the stomach; a father and daughter train and do so by fighting each other; a man's body is pulled from the water; a man is stabbed in the neck with a pen; a man is beat up; a girl doesn't understand a boy simply wants a kiss and she flips him over; a thrown knife strikes a man; a man is hit by a cargo crate.

2

Sex

A father reads to his daughter and mentions a whale's testicles in an awkward moment; a girl kisses her female friend on the lips but clearly thinks of her as a friend and states this later on; a comment about arousal; a camper trailer is shaking and a daughter says her parents are like rabbits; a lesbian comment as someone mentions a "lesbo"; it's stated a character has both male and female genitalia; a stripper is seen but does not go very far.

4

Language

F-1; For Ch**st Sake-1; G/OMG-3; D-1; S-4

4

Violence

An elk is killed by an arrow and its innards removed with bloody results; several people are shot and one man in the eye with bloody results; several fist fights and punches thrown; a man stabs another man with a sharp pole; a man is hung upside down and has been killed by arrows which protrude from his body; a character is shot in the side and another hit with an arrow in the stomach; a father and daughter train and do so by fighting each other; a man's body is pulled from the water; a man is stabbed in the neck with a pen; a man is beat up; a girl doesn't understand a boy simply wants a kiss and she flips him over; a thrown knife strikes a man; a man is hit by a cargo crate.

2

Drugs

Several scenes of drinking and bar scenes; smoking.

1

Nudity

Cleavage and a shirtless man.

2

Other

Secret intelligence agencies and the price families pay; talk of engineering embryo birth; the subject of a girl being trained to kill; a comment about God and believing in what you consider to be God whether it is Krishna or one's self.