Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Haywire (2012)


Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is a lethal and crafty agent, who works for a private American government firm, that carries out covert operation missions. Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) is Mallory’s boss and ex-boyfriend. He gives Mallory a simple enough mission: She must pose as the wife of a British agent (Michael Fassbender) during a mission in Dublin. Everything feels calm at first, but Mallory quickly realizes Kenneth’s betrayal. The one man, who she thought was trustworthy set her up. Mallory’s life is in serious danger. Paul (Fassbender) tries to “finalize the divorce,” but Mallory is able to get the upper hand. She takes care of Paul, but Mallory isn’t in the clear just yet. Mallory has been framed for murder, and she has become a hunted fugitive. Mallory is able to make a quick escape, and she only has two goals set in her sights: Discover the truth behind her betrayal, and kill everyone involved.

Gina Carano has received a lot of heat from the critics. Her “atrocious” acting skills are one of the main reasons why a good amount of critics have torn this film apart and trashed it to no end. I really don’t know too much about Carano. I know she’s an MMA fighter, and I have seen a few of her fights over the years, but I don’t pay close attention, because I’m not a big fan of MMA. I also don’t know if she’s done other films before. Most of the critics HATED her performance in this film, but for the most part, I actually enjoyed Carano and her character. Acting wise, she was okay. Her acting skills weren’t anything to brag about, and there’s no denying that, but Carano was able to make-up for her shortcomings in the acting department during the action scenes. Mallory Kane was a fearless and crafty agent, who wouldn’t back down from a fight. Carano was very smooth during the fight scenes in this film, and she was very believable, as this woman who could knock your teeth down your throat, and in most cases, do a lot worse. The Mallory Kane character was more of a physical threat than anything. Carano was able to pull off this side of the character with ease, she did provide an intimidating presence, and she was very comfortable with her character throughout this film.

Carano is an attractive woman, and she could have a future in mainstream action films, but she needs to step things up on the acting side of her career, if she wants to become a real star one day. She’s not going to be surrounded by an experienced and well known cast in all of her films, and there’s going to come a time, where she’s going to have to carry one of her movies.

Anyway, Haywire is an intelligent and sharp action/thriller, and this film does feature some clever editing. The supporting cast is excellent, the acting is very solid, and the story is filled with a nice amount of twist and turns, that will keep you guessing until the very end. I really enjoyed the action in this film, but I guess I’m in a very small minority with these feelings. You’ll see Gina Carano do a lot of ass kicking and running in Haywire, but you won’t see too many adrenaline filled shoot outs, explosive car chases are pretty much non existent, and you won’t see a cheesy and predictable big showdown at the end. But Haywire does feature some highly entertaining fight scenes. These scenes did provide plenty of thrills and suspense for me, and these particular scenes did feel very brutal and intense. Haywire takes a different approach to the action genre, and everything did feel refreshing here.

Haywire is a fast-paced action flick, that hooked me in from beginning to end, and the Mallory Kane character is one of the most believable bad-asses you’ll see on the big screen.

Final Rating: 7/10

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