Minus the "Ocean's 11" nonsense....Ive really enjoyed most all Soderbergh's big screen offerings and even developed a fond appreciate for his particular viewpoint. However, "Haywire" has me scratching my head for several reasons. Im sure out in cyberspace somewhere are some really great highlights of Gina Carano in action. Personally, ive never heard of her, but she is soo good supposedly, that she seems to have received muse status from Soderbergh who somehow saw Carano at an MMA exhibition and committed her to celluloid as cinema's new break out star. The inspiration seems foggy at best as what Carano has delivered is a stilted, wooden performance, and paint by the numbers action sequences that would have seemed just as capable say in the hands of Charlize Theron. What "Haywire" really needed was an actress....and what it got was a Burger King cardboard cutout of an action star.
Whats so frustrating about Soderbergh's work here is that all the elements are here for a killer film. Great title, and a handful of marquee supporting actors in it boy, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton, and Antonio Banderas. The actors are inevitably on loan here......lending more of their star wattage than acting chops. But I count this as a fault of Soderbergh whose use of fartsy artsy techniques and background use of credible actors have you going "haywire" for just how lackluster they are for smoothing out the jagged edges of the screenplay...mainly the acting by Carano. I imagine that they guys take the back seat here, so to speak, to not bring any more attention to how bad her acting is....but since these actors are soo good...even in lame roles.....a lot of the film comes across as line reading.
overall, what you crave is a dragged out, knocked out, action stunner a la Kill Bill....but what you get is "Drive".....a virtually action free action movie. And at 90 minues, this couldn't be more painful to sit through or follow. The plot, told in extended flash back, is sooooo overly convoluted that you'll totally stop caring halfway through and the use of locals is soo excessive....its almost bastardy. There is nothing to speak of in terms of tension, suspense, or plot twist (which there are many). And to boot, the movie seems to fetishize Carano in a way that her bravado shuns off instantly.......thus culminating in a juvenile wish fulfillment fantasy where a lot of tough guys get their asses kicked by a tough gal. Ultimately we've seen it all done before, only phoned in by Soderbergh...........we get the added back slap of high art purely for a genre exercise in consumption and ego tripping......frankly Soderbergh, that planned retirement may not be such a bad thing after all....if only to put a spark back in your creative voice.
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