Haywire (2012)

Haywire (2012)

4/10

Starring:
Gina Carano
Michael Fassbender
Ewan McGregor
Bill Paxton
Channing Tatum

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

The Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen director made this Lem Dobbs–badly scripted action thriller about conspiracy and all that.

So what is good about Haywire?

The cinematography is classic. Steven Soderbergh did a good job directing this movie, and kudos to the editing team, as the movie starts with you wondering what’s going on, as we see former American Gladiator Gina Carano playing Mallory engage in a fight with Aaron (Channing Tatum) after an exchange of words. Then cut scenes of the past mixed with the present take us through the whole plot of the movie.

The plot: Mallory at a diner takes out Aaron in a fight and takes a diner customer hostage. In the course of the slight police chase that follows, she starts to fill him in on the backstory:

She and Aaron worked together on a job in Barcelona, rescuing a Chinese dissident (Anthony Brandon Wong) for a client (Antonio Banderas). Both Mallory’s boss Kenneth (Ewan MacGregor) and Coblenz (Michael Douglas) seem to share a secret about the true nature of the Barcelona operation. Kenneth coerce Mallory to do another job where she is to pair with a spy, Paul (Michael Fassbender: Shame and X-Men: First Class). From here everything changes and the conspiracy starts.

So what is bad about Haywire?

The fight scenes are well choreographed but dull, you will see what they want to achieve, but it comes off slow and stiff. The acting of Gina Carano showed that she hasn’t had much experience acting, as she acted like a brick from the beginning to the end of the movie. The close-ups on her face didn’t help.

The introduction of Michael Douglas and Banderas was just a stunt to get people to the cinema, as their roles were as insignificant as the time I wasted watching this thriller.

The ensemble cast in this movie just play around the conspiracy till the end, a style of movie that I don’t believe should be done. Things just keep twisting and turning, and you don’t get the whole picture till the very end, that is if you sat down till the end, and you are not bored stiff. You are watching a movie about a woman beating up every guy she comes across, and after you have been watching for an hour, you start to lose interest.

I watched for over an hour and I still didn’t know why she was doing all this revenge stuff. If not for the fact that I have to review it, I would have walked off.

The movie is a sad excuse to show off Gina’s fighting skills, as it's clear the acting still needs some work. I recommend you go see another movie instead.