If you want to make a good action movie there’s only a few things you have to do. First, you have to stage dynamic action scenes that are at the same time simple and thrilling to follow. Soderbergh deftly manages this with Haywire. The film opens with an intense fight sequence that suddenly breaks out in the middle of a remote diner, and it doesn’t let up from there. We get foot chases, car chases, rooftop chases, tons more fight sequences, and even a few gunfights; and they’re all fun to watch and easy to follow. Goal one accomplished. The second thing you have to do to make a good action movie is introduce me to a character that I grow to care about, and then make me nervous when you put them in danger. If you can get me emotionally engaged in the fate of your character, and make me believe that they are truly vulnerable, then your fun to watch action scenes suddenly transform from being pretty pictures into engrossing experiences. Unfortunately, it’s here where Soderbergh comes up short. While I enjoyed watching this little action romp enough, I can’t say that I ever really cared about it.
Haywire follows the life of a professional mercenary named Mallory (Gina Carano). She works for a private company headed by her ex-squeeze Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), who gets his assignments from high profile clients like a government official played by Michael Douglas and some rich guy played by Antonio Banderas. First we watch a hostage rescue in Madrid, where Mallory not only gets the job done, but also starts a flirtation with a beefy colleague played by Channing Tatum. Trouble starts in Dublin, however, where what is supposed to be a relatively easy mission alongside a noticeably smug colleague played by Michael Fassbender goes bad when Mallory is betrayed, attacked, and suddenly finds herself wanted by the authorities. What are the details of this job she was on? Why was she betrayed? Who can she trust? Unfortunately, these are questions that the film takes too long to answer.
The main problem with Haywire is that it plays all of its cards so close to its vest. We’re never fully informed of who these people are, what their motivations are, or why any of this is happening. Instead, the why is played as a mystery that won’t be solved until the end of the film. This doesn’t work, because it’s disorienting. Momentary disorientation can be a fun way to get the audience to dig in and pay more attention to your movie, constant disorientation is a no-no. I need to know who these people are, I need to know what’s at stake, I need to have reasons to care about them and what they’re doing. If you don’t give me these things, for the entirety of the film, then what I’m watching starts to feel like a lot of impressively staged noise. And up until the final moments, when everyone’s motivations are finally revealed, that’s exactly what this movie is.
On a Meta level, the big question at the center of this film is Gina Carano herself. Can a former MMA fighter actually act, especially in a lead role? After sitting through this entire movie, I have to say, I’m still not sure. Can she carry an action scene? Yes, definitely. And she’s very pretty, which goes a long way toward lending her screen presence. But is that enough to transition her into becoming a real actor? Here she isn’t asked to do anything other than play tough and stoic. We never see her show vulnerability, she never emotes anything other than a feeling of gritted teeth determination. So, is she capable of doing anything else? I’m not sure. Is this Soderbergh playing to her strengths and hiding her limitations, or is it him being too cautious and making a safe, somewhat boring movie? It’s hard to say. What can be said is that Carano is perfectly acceptable in this movie. But this movie isn’t really that inherently interesting, and if all she’s capable of doing is bare bone action roles like this, then impressive physicality and intoxicating beauty aside, watching her star in movies is going to get pretty old pretty quick.
What’s interesting is that Soderbergh chose to surround the novice Carano with so many accomplished actors in supporting roles. While her efforts here were certainly passable, I can’t help but think she was made to look a little out of place by trading dialogue with so many veteran co-stars. With names like Douglas, Banderas, Fassbender, McGregor, and even Bill Paxton in the cast, this one looked a little talent heavy for being such light action fare. How did all of these guys do? They all do great. They’re good actors. But what were they asked to do? Nothing more than just coast on their established personas. The characters here aren’t so much characters as they are plot points. They don’t get enough screen time or development to amount to anything; each one exists just to get Carano’s character on to her next action sequence. It helps that they’re all so well-known, with such well-established personas, because the script doesn’t have to work as hard to flesh the supporting roles out; but after a while this starts to feel like a movie that’s doing as little as possible. Why put together a cast with talent on this level to employ them in what is essentially a paid vacation?
Which I guess is why, even though I enjoyed a lot of what I was watching, I can’t completely call this film a success. We spend much of the movie in the dark, wondering why we should care, and then once everyone’s motivations are finally laid out in the end all that’s really revealed is that none of what happened meant much anyway. The good guys and the bad guys got pitted against each other pretty much just because, it was coincidence more than anything. Our hero stayed steadfast and determined, the bad guys acted predictably bad, and nobody grew, or changed, or learned anything over the course of the film. Basically that makes this an exhibition meant to show us how effectively Gina Carano can perform an action sequence and little else. And never is that more apparent than in the film’s climactic action scene; a big showdown at sundown on a scenic beach. It’s the most beautifully shot action scene I’ve seen in as long as I can remember... but how did it happen? How did Carano get on that beach? How did she know where to find her opponent? The movie seems to think that we don’t care, and that the visual experience is enough. It’s not. Haywire is pleasing in the moment, but it starts to look thinner than paper with even a second’s reflection. If you don’t have a reason to care, what you’re left with is the most professionally rendered, high-end demo reel I’ve ever seen; but not a real story.
