Having tapped into the caper genre with his Oceans trilogy, Steven Soderbergh now enters the espionage game with Haywire, a film in which he takes a superb supporting cast, a trick-laden, loopy script, and produces a sub-Bourne-style adventure with a gender flipping twist in the leading role. Though the movie has problems, it’s imminently watchable, and its leading lady, while maybe not yet ready to tackle a role of Shakespearean depth, accounts for herself quite believably and entertainingly as a two-fisted heroine.
Haywire (Blu-ray + Digital Copy)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Studio: Lionsgate
Year: 2012
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 93 minutes
Rating: R
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: SDH, Spanish
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.99
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Review Date: April 24, 2012
The Film
3.5/5
When her former partner Aaron (Channing Tatum) from a previous mission tracks her down to an upstate New York diner, mercenary secret agent Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) refuses to go along with him, and during her escape in diner patron Scott’s (Michael Angarano) car, Mallory recounts the events which have brought her to this point hoping that if she’s killed, he’ll have the real story of what’s gone down to relate to the authorities. A routine mission in Barcelona with Aaron which seemed to go well led to what was supposed to be a leisurely job in Dublin with MI-6 agent Paul (Michael Fassbender) turning out to be not what her boss Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) had promised her, and from then on, she’s on the run from her own agency with a most curious employment offer from U.S. CIA handler Coblenz (Michael Douglas). But Mallory can’t accept it unless she can stay alive, and with only her father (Bill Paxton) to turn to, the odds seemed stacked against her.
Lem Dobbs’ script is a little undernourished making motivations a bit murky on first viewing (though sometimes the espionage genre thrives on not providing all of the answers, and that may be the case here). For most of the first two-thirds of the picture, the film is in flashback mode as we jump from country to country on Mallory’s various missions attempting to piece together the labyrinthine puzzle of why she’s being hunted. As part of those stories, we’re treated to three wonderfully staged but very realistic and not overdone fight scenes pitting Mallory against three men of varying sizes and levels of fighting expertise (she also deals with a handful of other men in lesser meetings), and what’s terrific about them is that, unlike many fight scenes in movies that no human being under normal circumstances could enact let alone survive, these all seem like possible encounters between trained combatants. And with Steven Soderbergh directing, we know to expect the unexpected. The climactic fight occurs on a beach, and the only underscore is the sound of the surf. Yes, punches and kicks are heard, but the sound effects aren’t amplified. An earlier chase scene on foot takes out sound effects completely and only allows music to accompany the visuals. Such Soderbergh touches abound throughout the film, and they’re especially keen as Mallory becomes more hunted by the minute: the overwhelming sense of paranoia he instills in the viewer from every passing person who throws her a glance is palpable.
As a mixed martial arts champion who could hold her own fighting men in the cage, Gina Carano is completely convincing as the highly trained and self-aware Mallory. The script doesn’t provide her with a range of great emotions; it’s almost all purely raw action stuff which she handles deftly, and she has movie star looks when she’s decked out in expensive evening wear during the Dublin sequence. The big star contingent of Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and Channing Tatum who play colleagues and otherwise during the film are as convincing as she is with all of the action business, but they’re given even less character development than she is in the lean script. Antonio Banderas in a fluffy white beard has a cameo of hazy incentive, and Michael Douglas as a CIA head honcho is likewise restrained by the underdeveloped screenplay. Bill Paxton does fine as Mallory’s father but isn’t given enough to do either in the script whose focus is almost entirely on Mallory.
Video Quality
4.5/5
The transfer is offered in the film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and is presented in 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. Shot digitally, most of the imagery is very crisp and very inviting. Soderbergh prefers natural lighting, so the Washington, D.C. sequences have a garish yellow look that’s most unappetizing. Elsewhere, color is nicely saturated and completely under control with accurate flesh tones. Black levels are very good but sometimes make for murky shadow detail. The film has been divided into 16 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix does not make full use of its surround rear channels. Much of the film's sound is frontcentric, unusual for an action film of this type, but the music by David Holmes gets a nice spread through the soundstage, and there is some ambient sound that finds its way to the rear channels, particularly the sounds of the surf during the climactic battle. Dialogue is well recorded and has been placed in the center channel.
Special Features
2/5
“Gina Carano in Training” shows the star of the movie undergoing both weapons training (headed by Aaron Cohen) and fight choreography training (by J. J. Terry), taking to both quickly and impressively. A bit of her background as a champion MMA fighter is also discussed along with scenes of the three major fight scenes in the picture as they are being staged and shot. This runs 16 minutes in 1080p.
“The Men of Haywire” offers us 5 ½ minutes of bite-sized interviews with Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum (who came late into the moviemaking process), and Antonio Bandaras about their roles in the film and their impressions of working with Gina Carano. It’s in 1080p.
The disc offers promo trailers for The Expendables 2, The Hunger Games, Warrior, and Man on a Ledge.
Enclosed are instructions for installing a digital copy of the movie on iTunes devices.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
A lean, mean fighting machine of a movie, Haywire may not offer the extensive fight scenes and the non-stop thrill ride of the Bourne movies, but as a quirky younger cousin of those films, it’s worth seeing. Gina Carano has made an impressive film debut as an action star.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
