Review of Haywire (2011) by Nathan C — 29 Sep 2012

How could an action movie that seems so promising end up being agonizingly dull? If you put Soderbergh in the director's chair, that's how.

An operative goes on a mission in Dublin and ends up being double-crossed. But, that part's told in flashback as she's on the run in New York, and also telling about her endeavors in Barcelona. From there, she must figure out who's betrayed her and takes to beating the crap out of a prolific supporting cast, one by one, so that she can survive out of her ordeal.

Despite a lack of acting experience, Gina Carano (an MMA fighter) at least gets the job done. And it shows in some greatly choreographed action scenes -- that are skillfully edited to show all of the action. She seriously kicks ass! It oozes with a prominent style, and takes a classic spy-movie approach to it. The supporting cast, albeit underused, is prolific. Its differences from most action-movies are both refreshing (for the first half-hour) and exhausting though.

All that style cannot hide the fact that it lacks substance. Here you have a stiff, paper-thin plot that's rehashed and convoluted to the point that it's nearly incoherent. That may make it seem clever, but it's all the more jarring. 2/3's into the movie, I caught myself asleep. Not a good prospect, but it goes to show how lifeless the movie really is when Carano's not beating people up. And Soderbergh's directorial sensibilities are too artsy-fartsy for this to even be considered an action thriller (see "Drive" by Refn to get what I mean). And his inability to resolve his stories is starting to peeve me...

'Tis a shame to say that for a high-concept thriller, "Haywire" is anything but. It even fails to live up to its title.