Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Lem Dobbs (Screenplay)
Starring: Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas
Plot: A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.
Tagline – They left her no choice.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Disappointing Action
Story: Haywire starts as Mallory Kane (Carano) a black ops soldier for the CIA is currently on the run after her partners Aaron (Tatum), Kenneth (McGregor), Rodrigo (Banderas) an Alex (Douglas) have set up to eliminate her. Mallory looks back on her career with the mission which things went wrong, one where she must get to know a MI6 agent Paul (Fassbender).
Mallory needs to bring down the men who have been setting her up, while finding the only person she can trust John (Paxton) her father, here she knows she can trust him to help her expose the corruption that is framing her.
Thoughts on Haywire
Characters – Mallory is the black ops soldier, now on the run after being set up by her own people, she uses her skills to remain ahead of them, using her combat skills to disarm the situations and tries to figure out who she can trust. This is basically a female version of Jason Bourne. Kenneth is the one the liaised on the last mission and the one that is currently after Mallory, he answers to people above his head, while control the ones below. Paul is the agent that Mallory is meant to meet, the one that she ended up coming to blows with leading to her to being chased. We have the people above Mallory that just want to see a mess cleaned up, while others are just facing orders.
Performances – Gina Carano is the star of the showing in the leading role, she handles all the action with ease and makes us believe she could be a threat for anybody who messes with her. The supporting male cast handle the heavy dialog scenes, which takes away the one weakness Gina could have.
Story – The story follows a black ops soldier that must clear her name, while being hunted down by the employees after a mission goes wrong. This is a style of story we have seen before, it is one that is a tried and tested formula, this way of telling the story, however, is weak, mainly because we are doing a large part of it in flashback style, which takes away any peril in the film for Mallory. We also try to get over-complicated with the motivation behind trying to frame her and by the end we don’t feel like we have experienced a tense enough action film. the music doesn’t help this movie either because it makes it feel like we are just watching slick heist movie.
Action – Gina Carano does her best to save this film with her action star abilities with combat, they are the only enjoyed scenes in the film.
Settings – The film does take us around the world for the action scenes, showing this to be a worldwide operation.
Scene of the Movie – The hotel escape sequences.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The end fight feels like just a training montage.
Final Thoughts – This is an action film that had potential, only for it to become to average with the story, with the one highlight being Gina Carano.
Overall: Basic action flick.
Rating
