Haywire

There are few directors as diverse or as prolific as Steven Soderbergh. He came to prominence with the controversial ‘Sex, Lies and Videotape’ in the late ‘80’s , and since then has shifted styles and themes around as the mood took him. He has done cool, edgy thrillers such as ‘Out of Sight’ and ‘The Limey’, award favourites like ‘Erin Brockovich’ and ‘Che’, and Hollywood blockbusters in the form of the ‘Ocean’s’ trilogy. He shows no signs of stopping- by the end of 2012 he’d have released eight movies in four years- and his latest is action thriller ‘Haywire’.

MMA fighter and former American Gladiator Gina Carano takes the lead as Mallory, a freelance covert operative whose firm, run by her ex-boyfriend Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), are employed by various agencies to take care of problems. When a rescue mission in Barcelona is not all it seems, however, Mallory finds herself a wanted woman and must find out who she can trust, and who she must take revenge on.

It’s got the style, it’s got the set pieces, but sadly this movie lacks the depth necessary to compete with the modern ‘clever’ action genre. A lot of the movie feels like a computer game, as our heroine goes from one setting to another eluding the bad guys and busting some heads. Admittedly the fight scenes are quite spectacular, particularly the scene where an expensive hotel room gets trashed, but you don’t know enough about anyone to really care who makes it and who doesn’t.

The stars truly come out for the big name director, but it’s the largely unknown Carano who is the most impressive. Important to any action film is a feeling that your hero is genuinely tough, and she doesn’t look at all out of place kicking the asses of her various male counterparts. There’s also a quiet intensity about her that is very compelling. The supporting actors don’t impress quite as much, as McGregor struggles to be that intimidating for a man playing a spy-for-hire. Legends Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas are fun, but have little to do other than take phone calls from Carano.

From the most unique of directors comes an occasionally enjoyable but overall quite average action- thriller, with plenty to entertain but not much to think about. The biggest positive is that Carano may be the lady action star many audiences have been crying out for.

Released January 20.