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Haywire is missing something. It has a great cast, especially formidable newcomer (and former American Gladiator/current female MMA fighter) Gina Carano. It has a terrific director in cinematic chameleon Steven Soderbergh and enough traditional fight scenes to tantalize even the most shaky-cam weary action aficionado. So what, exactly, does this smart, traditional thriller lack? Energy. Or perhaps a better way to put it is internal drive. Whenever Ms. Carano and the company engage in hand to hand combat, the film flies off the screen. We are drawn into their world and never want to leave. The minute the wounds start to heal and the blood congeals, however, everything dries up and stagnates...including our attention span.
Carano plays Mallory Kane, a freelance spy for a private company run by former lover - and nerdy lowlife - Kenneth (Ewan McGregor). When we meet her, she is on the run from a fellow hired gun named Aaron (Channing Tatum). Seems a job they did in Barcelona has turned into something much more complicated, and Mallory has been implicated in the deadly screw-up. After a run in with a British Intelligence Agent (Michael Fassbender) and a near fatal escape, she is sought by the man who backed the deal (Antonio Banderas) as well as the well-placed US official (Michael Douglas) who oversaw the raid. With the help of her famous novelist father (Bill Paxton), she must clear her name, or die trying.
By the plot description alone you can see where Haywire is going...nowhere. It's the same old spy vs. spy double cross claptrap that has doomed a dozen similarly styled titles. From the wrongfully accused to the rightfully implicated, the narrative here (by Dark City and The Limey screenwriter Lem Dobbs) has no spark. There is nothing new or novel about Mallory's plight, and the gimmick of making our blood and guts guide a woman has been done before (The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kill Bill)...and better. All Soderbergh can bring to the mix is a real authenticity when it comes to the violence. These altercations (usually between Ms. Carano and some male actor or actors) are terrific - brutal, spry, and yet never overdone or unbelievable. Mallory is not a superhero. She's merely a highly trained ex-Marine with a lot of spirit and a killer right hook.It's just too bad then that this origin story (set up to allow for at least two sequels) is so dull. We learn very little about Mallory as a person, enjoy the brief bits with her dad, and can't quite fathom how she wound up with a weasel like Kenneth in the first place (McGregor is great in his insane asylum resident haircut). There is a death scene which is supposed to strike an emotional chord - and doesn't - as well as a payoff that earns more satisfaction from the swear word uttered than the implications to the plot. Throughout, Soderbergh keeps our interest, if not our investment. By the middle, we just want more Carano vs. cast beat downs. Toward the end, we are glad to get out of this inert narrative.
Without a constant inner drive, without a feeling that we as an audience are also crashing headlong into the unexpected, out of control experiences of our heroine, something like Haywire struggles. And since there are no real characters here to champion, there's nothing else to support. If Soderbergh wanted to showcase the possibilities inherent in Ms. Carano's buff bod persona, he's done a fine job. For fans of the type he's using as said platform, Haywire misses the mark. When it fights, it's fine. In all other ways, it's lost.
