Haywire
AMC Loews Village 7, January 29, 2012
Movie #6 for 2012
Not so long go I thought espionage action movies had been destroyed forever by Tom Cruise, whip-panning and editors that won’t quit. And then came Haywire.
GINA CARANO (pictured) is the kind of tough guy Cruise wishes he could pull off. She has the kind of physicality that comes from being actually physical - she’s a mixed martial arts champion - and, like Zoe Bell in Deathproof, has the kind of stunt skill that you can’t fake.
She’s also easy on the eye and a not-awful actress, so wins all over the shop. Diretor STEPHEN SODERBERGH is clearly a bit besotted with her and directs her with a kind of wary love - the camera is almost always wide to capture the stunts and action in all their (mostly) wireless, real-life glory, but the eye is always firmly fixed on her as she beats her way through numerous men (including CHANNING TATUM, EWAN McGREGOR and MICHAEL FASSBENDER) who have set her up for a fall.
Soderbergh sticks with his regular look of flat, slightly saturated colors and some kooky camera angles to keep things interesting for himself. The screenplay (by Lem Dobbs) is a little over the top and without the brief running time and Soderbergh’s cool yet awed approach, it could have been a disaster. But here, it’s turned into some kind of straight-up lady-badass gold.
There’s not a whipp-pan in sight and no-one, neither Soderbergh nor Carano, are pulling their punches.
