Review of Haywire (2011) by Clarisesamuels — 31 May 2012

This was a fascinating action film. It has more than its fair share of violence, which usually doesn't appeal to me, but the violence is so intrinsically linked to the plot that the movie just would not work without it.

The heroine of the film is an ex-Marine who can put James Bond to shame. She's strong, beautiful, and fearless, and has catlike agility and intuition. The violent scenes are mostly her beating up all the men who try to betray her, subdue her, or hire contractors to kill her.

She always triumphs over them--she is invincible. She ends up killing a couple of them, which is probably not necessary--women usually are a little more forgiving than that, although it should be noted that every character she kills was someone who tried to kill her first.

From a purely feminist point of view, this movie is an important addition to the canon--no helpless females who have to count shrill, convincing screams as being an important part of their acting skills.

(I've never screamed in my life, so why are actresses always screaming?) The character of Mallory Kane is played by newcomer Gina Carano, who in real life is a renowned expert at Muay Thai, the official sport of Thailand, a martial art that is basically a form of kickboxing.

Muay Thai was Carano's primary claim to fame before her breakthrough role in Haywire. She is all muscle and guts--I don't think she needed a stunt woman to double for her in any scenes. She makes Angelina Jolie look like a princess.

The film also marks Michael Douglas's comeback after his illness. He looks better than ever in the role of Coblenz, the only disappointment being that we don't get to see enough of him. It's an easy and small role for him, but he was still extremely effective, as was Antonio Banderas, also onscreen too briefly, and Ewan McGregor, who plays a surprisingly ambiguous character despite his conservative, clean-cut exterior.