Movie Review: Haywire (2012)

 

Haywire 
A movie review by Dave Randal
February 15, 2012

Genre: Action | Crime | Drama

Cast: Gina Carano, Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano

Director: Steven Sodorbergh

Writers: Lem Dobbs

Release Date: January 20, 2012 (USA)

Plot: A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.

Want to know more about this movie?: Haywire(2012) IMDb Page

Steven Sodorbergh is an interesting director. Sometimes he will do a big Hollywood movie like Ocean's Eleven(2001) and then next he will do a more odd movie like Solaris(2002). Other times he will just make an odd big Hollywood movie like The Informant!(2009). I usually always find something interesting in a Sodorbergh movie and his newest movie, Haywire, is no different.

Haywire is about a woman Mallory Kane, played by Gina Carano, who is a covert operative super soldier. During a mission she is betrayed by the company that hired her and a manhunt is started by local authorities in a foreign country to find her and bring her up on charges. Now she has to get back to the United States and seek out revenge on her former employers.

The movie stars Gina Carano who is a very successful female Mixed Martial Arts fighter. I first found out who she was after watching the NBC remade version of American Gladiators. She competed on the show as American Gladiator Crush. There was something that I noticed on that show that I also noticed in this movie. She doesn't have a whole lot of charisma. When it comes to all the action and fight scenes I think she looks great. When it comes to the actual acting I think she is alright, but I wouldn't call her a good actress by any stretch of the imagination.

The parts I liked best about this movie are the fight scenes. They heavily use the modern hybrid fighting style of mixed martial arts and that makes the fights just look brutal in the best way possible. In every fight they have Carano fighting a man and that may not seem like it would come off as believable, but Carano is so fit that she and the filmmakers make it work in this movie. When she punches someone it doesn't just make a phony old movie punch sound effect. It literally sounds like a hard thud of someone punching someone else right in the face. I was so impressed with the fight scenes in this that I think they are probably the most believable fight scenes I have ever seen in a movie.

As much as I like the fighting I really didn't like the story itself. I think it had potential, but overall I think it took itself way too seriously. Carano's acting does not fit in the movie. She doesn't have too much dialogue, but it would of had to of taken someone like Angelina Jolie to pull off this movie. I won't blame Carano's acting for the main reason for why I didn't enjoy the movie for the most part. The flow of the script for this movie is very odd and I think it's pacing is really off. They basically made an action movie with a plot that seemed complicated, but it turns out that it isn't really all that complicated at all. That really threw me off and I think they could have done a much better job with the actual story.

Channing Tatum is also in this movie and I have never been all that impressed with him. I think he has a good physical presence, but as in actor he is pretty much just a one trick pony. I would like to see him stretch out a bit and do something different to see what he has, but I honestly don't think that will happen. In this movie he does alright, but overall his performance is just dry. I actually looked forward to some future movies that he is in like the upcoming 21 Jump Street(2012) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation(2012), which I think are more his speed right now in his acting career.

Veteran big name actors Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas has somewhat smaller roles in this movie. Michael Douglas is good as a government agent and Antonio Banderas plays his mysterious contact or informant. Both of them do a good job in the movie, but there characters are kind of underused in the movie.

Haywire is a decent first big Hollywood movie for Gina Carano, but I think it's complicated plot which turns out to not be as complicated as the filmmakers want you to believe is a little above her acting ability for right now. There is no denying that she has a physical presence and I hope to see her in more action heavy movies where I think she will do better as a physical actor not unlike great physical actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone.

Dave Randal's Rating- A-Okay
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Dave Randal's Star Rating- ★★★(3) out of ★★★★★(5)