Serious Movie Lover

HAYWIRE (2011/IN THEATERS) The previews for Stephen Soderbergh’s latest effort looked pretty darn good.  Featuring a boatload of good looking faces including Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, and Michael Douglas, and introducing real-life kick-ass MMA superstar Gina Carano as the main character Mallory Kane (a woman’s version of Jason Bourne), the previews promised lots of action combined with classic Soderbergh arty filmmaking.   Critics like the film and have given it an 86% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating.  Audiences on the other hand have reacted quite differently, voting the movie a D+ Cinemascore and a low 46% on RT. The plot of the film (which is very thin) has us following Mallory Kane as she makes her way from upstate New York to her father’s house in New Mexico, pursued by her former employer and lover Kenneth (McGregor) who has set her up in her last jobs in Barcelona and Dublin, and is clearly looking to polish her off. Why, we don’t know and won’t know until a final “reveal” at the end.  As Mallory waits in a small coffee shop, her friend/colleague (or enemy?)  Aaron (Tatum) enters and asks her to leave with him.  When she refuses, he throws hot coffee in her face and starts to smash her head into the floor.  Not to worry, though, since our girl is able to eventually break his arm and knock him unconscious.  Hey!  It is an action picture after all.  Through a series of flashbacks we see that Mallory’s past week has been full of action—including at least one person posing as her partner who is also trying to kill her (Fassbender, in a small but well played part).   He dies too.  I won’t spoil the movie for you by giving more plot details, but let’s just say this is no “Bourne Identity.”  For some reason, despite all these attractive and talented actors, and some cool editing and music, the picture is not at all suspenseful and feels slow.  It could be the story-line and the absence of any clever dialog.  But perhaps the biggest problem is Gina Carano herself.  She is a real-life MMA superstar and that shows on screen.  But unfortunately she can’t act and since she is the centerpiece of the picture, that’s a problem which is hard to overcome.   My advice:  wait for the DVD—this will be a perfect popcorn movie one of these long winter nights.

Grade:            B-

Tags Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Gina Carano, Jason Bourne, michael douglas, Michael Fassbender, New Mexico