An Exercise In Nonsense

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Blistering performances.

Screenwriter Lem Dobbs and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh fashioned this ultimately routine globe-trotting action thriller as a vehicle for famed Mixed Martial Arts fighter Gina Carano. Gina shows poise in the role of Mallory Kane, an operative for a private firm hired to retrieve a kidnapped journalist. Things go wrong, and eventually she is double crossed; an attempt is made on her life. Naturally, she will go on the lam and be on a mission of vengeance; she desperately relates her story (what she knows of it, anyway) to an innocent young man (Michael Angarano) as she appropriates his car and his services.The film certainly looks great, but as a showcase for Ginas' fighting skills, it's not all it could be. She does righteously kick some ass, and look great doing it, but the relatively brief "Haywire" (running an hour and 33 minutes) does get rather bogged down in story. Ginas' screen presence is fine, although she was apparently dubbed by actress Laura San Giacomo, with whom Soderbergh worked on "Sex, Lies and Videotape". Still, it's easy enough to root for her, and Soderbergh keeps the pedal to the metal throughout. The story is nothing special, but for anybody who might get confused, it all gets explained right near the end.Soderbergh made sure to surround Gina with excellent co-stars who could help to do some of the heavy lifting: Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Fassbender, Mathieu Kassovitz. McGregor is enjoyably slimy as her boss, and Paxton is wonderfully low key as her loving dad."Haywire" is technically a slick picture, and the propulsive music score by David Holmes helps to drive the tale forward. It wastes no time getting into the story, as the title & credits are saved for the final several minutes of the run time. At the very least, it proved that Carano had the potential to be an icon in this genre.Six out of 10.

This movie is one of the biggest surprises. I was interested it as soon as it was made public that Gina Carano would star in it. I have been a Carano fans since her days in StrikeForce and wanted to see if she can make a successful transition to the movies, and not fall flat like so many other martial artists before her. Although I knew Soderbergh directed this one, I didn't think much of it, was simply hoping for a spy thriller with decent martial arts action. And then I read the reviews and saw the somewhat low rating and didn't really give it a shot. So 6 years have passed and I finally got to watching it, and boy, was I wrong to initially dismiss it. It might not have been in the vein as the Bourne movies, James Bond or almost any modern spy- covert ops movie, but the difference between most of those and Haywire is that Haywire looks stunningly authentic. The action scenes, especially the close quarters hand-to-hand combat is phenomenal. I knew Gina was chosen because of her MMA prowess, but she exceeds every expectation. All fight scenes are beautifully choreographed and make for an exciting experience. The other actors have done no less and tried to do as good as Gina, and it's visible.I fully enjoyed how Soderbergh presents a great number of longs shots without any background music, only small clicks and sounds straight from the environment, which further hypes the situation. I don't think I have ever seen a movie like this, that tries to create an atmosphere without bombastic music and sound effects, instead it just lets you watch the action and immerses you into it with great camera work, great storytelling and wonderful pacing. Watching this makes you present in the whole endeavor and the struggles of the protagonist. It seems shockingly authentic the entire time, which makes it really fascinating.I would recommend this to anyone who wants to enjoy a good movie, with a good premise and very stylized execution. I wasn't really aware this was a Soderbergh movie until the second long shot. His directing is really appropriate for this kind of movie. The supporting cast consists of Hollywood A-listers who can act and fight, which is a short list, but one that shines throughout the movie. Definitely worth a watch or two.

With Steven Soderburgh at the helm and a multi A-list line up (Ewen MacGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Bill Paxton & Channing Tatum), this should have been far far better than it turned out to be. That being said, it's largely unknown main player Gina Corano does a fantastic job in the lead role. The extras on the DVD would suggest that this whole project was built around her, which is amazing in itself, using an amazing amount of recognised talent around somebody who was only really previously known as an MMA fighter. She was obviously unphased by all this and easily comes out as the star of the show. The plot is a little confusing at first, but given that it was a mere 88 minutes long, it soon pieces itself together. Most of the main stars roles, apart from MacGregor, are not very big at all but it's not the acting that is the fault here....it's the character building. Basically, there isn't any at all (probably due to the films length), which suggests to me that Soderburgh could have made a longer, more intriguing movie. The films premise is quite intriguing itself, but it's lack of feeling leaves the viewer a little flat. Soderburgh does not however focus on Corano's fighting talents alone.....to me he has helped to create a very good actress and this reflects in some of the films that she has appeared in since. To sum up....I found this quite a good spy thriller, but in the main I was left a little disappointed when there was so much talent on show.

With a parade of great names in its ensemble cast, this movie really disappoint in overall. The story tried really hard to be intriguing, using all those black and white coloration, and the back and forth story flow. But at the core the story just emerges as one that is merely predictable. With all those big names on as by-standing characters, audiences surely get easily alarmed and guess who's the really bad guy in the movie. Having Gina Carano as the main character surely isn't the best choice. She made the character looked flat, despite the movie's attempt to enrich Mallory's character. Acting wise, this one is a strange pick. As Gina Carano made her character bad, the rest of the big names in the cast okay to give live to their parts.