Haywire (2012)

Okay, so Haywire is the latest film from Steven Soderbergh, Director of the Oceans trilogy, Che 1 &2 and numerous other films. He's a director who I will always say is worth watching, besides a couple of exceptions his films always have something interesting about them that makes them worth spending 2 hours of your life following them. Haywire is no exception.

The basic premise of the film is that there is an agency of essentially hired killers, who act as contractors for the US Government, doing the work that the government cannot officially do. Mallory (played by newcomer Gina Carano) is said to be one of the best agents they have working for them, but on one job she is sent on an attempt is made on her life, an attempt that was organised by the group that she works for, and the film follows her on her quest to find out why she has been targeted and to stop those after her. The plot is the least original thing about this film, it's a plot we've seen many times before, but it doesn't matter as this film is a bunch of fun to boot. It's not being billed as a serious awards contender, and at this time of year it is a breath of fresh air to watch a film that is much more concerned with providing a good time for it's audience than trying to impress a panel of judges.

Gina Carano is an MMA professional who Soderbergh saw fighting once and decided to find a project to work with her as an actress in. I have to be honest with you, it was only after the film ended that I discovered that she had minimal acting experience, as she does a really terrific job with this role. It is true that a large portion of her time on screen is spent fighting, running away or shooting guns, but that is not to say that the rest of the time should be ignored. Which I guess brings me to my next point, the film is the very definition of action packed. It rarely slows down, and that is part of what makes it such good fun, when you hire a professional fighter as your lead you have to expect a certain level of action in the film. What is interesting too though is just how realistic the fighting is, at times it genuinely feels as though could be watching an actual scrap. This too is an unusual break from generations of exaggerated or stylistic fighting, it feels much more natural and organic and therefore lends a greater realism to a film which is pretty unrealistic.

Of course a film that is all action and no substance would quite frankly be shit... or Crank 2 (which whilst I know is terrible, I did find guiltily fun) and the script of this film, whilst slightly unoriginal, is also very well written, dialogue flows naturally and relationships feel real. Although when you look at the rest of the cast you have to understand that whilst one of them may occasionally choose a bad script, for all of them to pick the same one would be unheard of.  With a lead who is unknown, you've got supporting her Antonio Bandaras, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender (In His gazzilionth film of the last 12 months), Channing Tatum and Bill Paxton, all of whom could, and have carry films on their own, some directors manage to bring together casts like this from time to time, Steven Soderbergh seems to do it all the time.

In short this isn't a serious film, it's a B movie at it's heart, but then again, some of the best films are, Drive was a B Movie, yet turned out to be one of the best films of last year. It's a film that will take you on a thrill ride, it's action packed, but never macho or full of posturing, it's well scripted, well acted and brilliantly shot. It's incredibly enjoyable and I can see myself sticking this on from time to time when I'm after a good bit of fun, I know it's been getting a bit of stick lately, but I personally thought that it was great fun. Go watch it now!