Steven Soderbergh's action-packed, all-star spy movie
Haywire opens this weekend, with a stellar cast featuring Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Bandaras, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum and Bill Paxton. And it's pretty awesome. There are plenty of incredible action sequences sure to please Bourne fans, and Carano is a truly empowered female action star you can really
believe could kick the asses of everyone whose ass she kicks in the movie in real life! (I thoroughly enjoyed
Colombiana, but did you really believe that the rail-thin Zoe Saldana could win that final fight?) Read my full review of
Haywire here. See the movie in theaters this weekend and chime in here with your thoughts.
Movie Review: Haywire (2012)
Like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, I had high hopes and expectations for seeing Haywire. I was not disappointed with TTSS, but was let down with Haywire. The film just felt very cold and artificial to me. Soderbergh directs with a very cool and aloof style that results in not getting emotionally involved with the characters. The film is set up for a series of hand to hand fight scenes that even though they are in different locations and clothing (the hotel scene you mention in your review), they still become slightly repetitive. We certainly believe Carano's character in these fight scenes but the rest of her performance is flat delivering her lines in a monotone voice.
ReplyDeleteThe issue I have with David Holmes score is the lack of the score during the fight scenes. I've read that Soderbergh deliberately did this, but then during the dialog scenes, the score seems very intrusive.
As I said earlier, like TTSS, this is a film I wanted to like, but I came away disappointed.
I liked it but a)it wasn't worth the $14 I paid to see it b)it suffers from the same problem I had with SALT where both leads win every fight. Makes it a skoche unbelievable. Even Bond loses a fight in each film c)why drag that guy in the diner with her and tell him everything? Just take his car and jet, or take Tatum's car.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you guys didn't like it as much as I did. All of your complaints are certainly valid, and I see what you're saying. I personally didn't find the fight sequences too repetitive, but I can understand how someone could. I also liked Carano's performance (not that the script called for much from her), but I would definitely agree that Soderbergh's direction was very cool and clinical and that did prevent some emotional attachments that might have helped the material. And, Delmo, you make a very good point about her never losing a fight. But at least I believe her WINNING them all more than I did in Salt!
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing is a ruse to showcase the talents of Mixed Martial Arts competitor Gina Carano in several brutal action fight scenes.
ReplyDelete