Starring: Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Michael Angarano
Director: Steven Soderberg
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rating: C+
I was a bit disappointed with this movie. I didn’t expect it to be some stellar film
with amazing acting that really wowed me or anything… but based on the trailers
I was expecting it to be a highly intense action flick. You know, lots of fighting scenes and a plot
that didn’t really matter. Watching Haywire, however, provided a rather
different movie. It was intense, but
slow. There was a lot of plot and it was
all very important… but I didn’t really care about it. I didn’t care about the characters. The film didn’t really give me any reason to care
about them and whether they live or die.
It seems almost like the film is counting on the viewers having a
pre-existing emotional attachment to the characters because of any attachment
to the actors. It’s rather a juvenile
approach to filmmaking: it’s like not developing the Robert Pattinson
character, because hey it’s Edward Cullen and therefore you have to love him
(note, I’ve only actually seen two non-Twilight R-Pattz movies, neither of
which did this, so it’s not the best comparison. But, really, given the
attitude of some Twihards, I could see this happening).
Haywire follows Mallory Kane
(Carano), who is some sort of secret operative who… kills people? Sometimes for
the government? I’m not really sure. The
film is told partially in flashbacks and we learn that a week ago Mallory was
assigned to rescue Jiang (Anthony Brandon Wong) in Barcelona, requiring her to
pose as the wife of British MI6 agent Paul (Fassbender). Nothing is really what it seems, however, and
after Paul kills Jiang things all go to shit for Mallory. She ends up on the run from the company,
which is headed by her ex-boyfriend Kenneth (McGregor), who are all hell bent
on killing her.
Once again, I didn’t care about the characters. I didn’t care for Mallory, who I didn’t know
from anything else. I also didn’t care
about Paul, Kenneth, John Kane (Paxton), Aaron (Tatum), Rodrigo (Banderas),
Coblenz (Douglas), or even Scott (Angarano), who I’ve seen in many movies and
for the most part really enjoy the actors.
Yet, while I care about (most of) these actors, I didn’t care about
their characters. I didn’t wonder what
their greater motives were or why they were trying to kill Mallory (those of
them that were), although the reasons that I did find were kind of stupid. The film found this way of being both overly
simplistic and overly complicated at the same time, and not in a good way. Some really simple movies are great, likewise
with some really complicated movies. In
fact, despite my frequent criticism of overly complicated movies, I tend to
love things that are hugely complex. It’s
just when it doesn’t work out or things become lost in the confusion that I
grow unhappy. This is what happened in Haywire – things were lost in the
confusion, most notably the character development.
Moving on is the fact that this movie presented itself as being this
highly packed action flick. It isn’t a
highly packed action flick. Sure there
are a few action sequences, but a lot of the time it’s this slow, dramatic
thing. It’s a really quiet movie,
equating long periods of characters moving and saying nothing, accompanied by
tension building music in order to create suspense. For me it didn’t create suspense, it was just
annoying. Having read other reviews of
the movie, I find it kind of funny that one of the compliments Haywire has received is the lack of
action sequences and special effects. I
guess, to each their own. I do enjoy a
good thriller, but I don’t think this was that.
I also enjoy a good action film, filled with action sequences and
special effects, which I felt is what this presented itself as. Haywire
ended up being neither, and in the end I was just disappointed.
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