Haywire

Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, Michael Angarano
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: A mercenary (Gina Carano) seeks revenge when her handlers betray her during a mission.

Review:

Tim: Steven Soderbergh is certainly an eccentric, different director. The guy certain goes his own path, for better or worse. I don't always love Soderbergh, but I do respect his attempts to be different. Unfortunately, I very much disliked his stripped-down action thriller, Haywire. I understand what he was trying to do with his minimalist approach to the action genre, but this is a flawed, silly movie. I did not enjoy it much at all.

The biggest problem with this movie is Gina Carano. I understand the desire to cast a real fighter in his film, but I think Soderbergh missed the mark with this one. I'm not trying to be overly harsh on Carano- she is an impressive physical specimen, looking like a mercenary and obviously having the MMA training to back it up. The physicality of her performance is pretty stunning- I especially liked the scene where she stands against the wall during a fight. She has the fighting skills to be impressive on screen. The problem is that she is simply not an actress. Her line readings were incredibly flat and listless. She brings no energy to the character's words, only to the fight sequences. Soderbergh is overly obvious with how hard he worked to try and hide the fact that she can't act at all- quick cuts, short, one sentence or less dialogue, surrounding her with great acting talent, etc. The whole film, I was mesmerized by how hard he worked to cover up her inadequacies and how despite that effort, it didn't work. Carano is not an actress at this point, and her performance sinks the film.

Without really caring about our heroine, we have a hard time caring about the events of the film. It doesn't help that the plot has been done countless times in other films already. Besides really stripping the film down to only the bare essentials, Soderbergh gives us a story that we've seen too many times before. I was bored throughout the entire film. Now, some may claim that I am complaining because I want the big explosions of the more Hollywood-type action movies, but I think that is unfair. I simply wanted an engaging, interesting story that held my attention. I did not get that here.

It's funny that Soderbergh surrounded a bad actress with some incredibly impressive talent. It was almost as if he hoped we'd be drawn to the actors around her and forget how bad she was. I always like Ewan McGregor, and it was fun to see him play a more morally ambiguous character. His scene on the beach is pretty cool. I loved seeing Michael Douglas here- the guy needs to make more movies. He doesn't have a whole lot to do, but the film is better because of his presence. I felt like Antonio Banderas' talent was pretty wasted in this film. Besides one funny line, he really had nothing to do. I don't like Channing Tatum, and as usual, his performance here did nothing to change that opinion. I simply don't understand why people like him so much. Bill Paxton has a few nice scenes, but nothing spectacular. Finally, Michael Fassbender, who is on a meteoric career trajectory makes an appearance here. I do like Fassbender, and his scenes were among the more interesting of the film.

I am all for doing things differently, and I am always interested to see what Soderbergh has up his sleeve. Unfortunately, Haywire just is not a good movie at all. The trailers didn't convince me, and try as I did to have an open mind and embrace this film, it was not entertaining, exciting, or fun. Carano's complete lack of acting ability really hurt the film for me. I love action thrillers, but this one simply did not connect on any level.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 5.5



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