Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender,
Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas
Released by Momentum Pictures
Out: 18th January 2012
A bruised and battered woman sits in a rural diner waiting for a
friend to pick her up. But Mallory (Gina Carano) is no wallflower and she soon
begins to suspect that the man she is meeting, Aaron (Channing Tatum), may be
no friend. Before the coffee cup is refilled or the over-easy eggs arrive,
things begin to fall apart even further... leaving the capable Aaron in a pile
of smashed cafe furniture and Mallory hijacking the car (and driver) of another
customer. Needless to say, there's going to be collateral damage a'plenty in the story to come...
She is a black-ops agent with a history of training, secrets and
split-second decision-making and a trail of dead bodies behind her: because Mallory
has been betrayed by the very people who hired her, framed for an extraction gone wrong and with almost no-one to turn to. Now she wants to know how and
why she’s been set-up to take the fall for her duplicitous bosses. The trouble
is, she is causing no end of trouble for the likes of Ewan McGregor, Michael
Douglas, Michael Fassbender and Antonio Banderas - some of whom would gladly have seen her
terminated with extreme prejudice as quickly as possible. As Mallory heads towards her childhood home
and father (Bill Paxton) the forces against her are beginning to rally, but she’s
not going down quietly.
"McGregor is capable of the slimy, duplicitous sneak we quickly see his character to be, but when called on to be physically threatening or any match for Carano’s honed technique, he flounders unconvincingly. It’s like watching Nick Clegg getting bitch-slapped by an Aliens-era Sigourney Weaver..."
The problem of stripping down a story to its basic elements is
that you sometimes see the joins and Haywire loses some points for clearly
demonstrating where parts of the familiar revenge tale were stitched together.
Flashbacks are a familiar way of telling a story – jump in immediately and then
bring the audience up to date to see how you got there – but it’s something of
a bizarre choice to have Mallory relating her super-secret life and job to a
stranger she’s just met. The execution itself is fine, but the notion feels
contrived on a distracting level.
However, all that aside, Haywire is a great showcase for actress
and former MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) champion Gina Carano. She acquits herself
well on both counts – avoiding the heavy footfall of some performers who can’t
pull off convincing action and some fighters who simply can’t pull off coherent
sentences. Carano is a natural fighter, feminine yet deadly and more than equal
to the task of following in the stilleto’d path of Luc Besson’s Nikita (whether
that be the Anne Parrilaud, Peta Wilson or Maggie Q incarnations). In the hands of a respected film-maker like
Steven Soderbergh, this is no straight-to-video style retread of an 1980s release.
Familiar and formula this may be, but there IS a basic story here, confidently
delivered and complimented by strong cinematography that balances the need for
up-close fighting but also never wasting a great backdrop – a worldwide tour
that might make Bourne and Bond break out in a cold sweat.
Ewan McGregor is wholly miscast as Mallory’s immediate boss and ‘manager’,
the person actively targeting her for execution. McGregor is capable of the
slimy, duplicitous sneak we quickly see his character to be, but when called on
to be physically threatening or any match for Carano’s honed technique, he
flounders unconvincingly. It’s like watching Nick Clegg getting bitch-slapped
by an Aliens-era Sigourney Weaver.
The supporting cast sees a raft of A-List actors in minor roles
that their agents normally possibly turn down as little more than cameos.
Douglas and Banderas look to be there as a favour to Soderbergh and while
clearly having the time of their lives and delivering the requisite goods,
there’s only so much they can do with fairly two-dimensional roles. Fassbender, rapidly becoming THE actor to
watch in the industry, fares much better
as a fellow agent who teamed up with Mallory on her last job. He exudes
genuine, cold menace and charm in the same breath and a fight scene between his
character and Mallory is brutal and unforgiving.
A decent entry in the modern action output – where modern
audiences are demanding more – this is reminiscent in style and execution of
the best of Luc Besson’s femme fatale back-catalogue.
Haywire has its faults and limitations, but it should more than suit those who
want some panache with their punches. Carano, quite obviously an ideal
candidate for Wonder Woman should a) it ever get out of Development Hell and b)
she even want it, has a strong film future ahead. On the strength of this, she’ll
probably deliver.
RATING: 4/5
RATING: 4/5
