Haywire

Stephen Soderbergh’s career hasn’t really recovered from the outrageous smugness that was Oceans Twelve back in 2004. He’s had a few half decent films since (The Good German, Che and the recent Contagion) but it appears he’ll never again reach the highpoint of Traffic from over ten years ago. They’ve said for years now that film reviewers are out of touch with the viewpoint of the general public when it comes to seeing films. That’s an argument for a different time, but this film has got great reviews and frankly, I’ve no idea why. This is utter pretentious gubbins. A quick summing up of the story is that Mallory (ex mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano) is a member of private company that undertake covert operations on behalf of the US Government. She gets double crossed though and then plots her revenge against her paymasters. So far, as unoriginal as you can get. Not that this should hold the film back if it’s well directed. Unfortunately, Soderbergh drops a bomb here. Where to begin? Firstly it appears he’s tried to direct this using as much natural light as possible. The result is a film that looks like it’s been mis-filtered as everything is so dark. If that was what he was aiming for anyway, well, see the P word mentioned above. Speaking of that a long scene where Mallory is talking to someone in a car is shot from the outside and 75% of the time all you can see is the reflections of the trees on the cars windows. This isn’t smart or clever, just bloody annoying. There are also some glaring errors in the plot and if there’s a worse soundtrack this year on a film I’d like to hear it (well, I wouldn’t, but you know what I mean). Soderbergh may have been looking for authenticity in the fight scenes and there’s no doubt Carano can kick arse to the required level. One problem though; she can’t act. Therefore, you don’t believe the character and the credibility of the film has been kicked out the window quicker than one of Carano’s Muay Thai kicks. A few of the fight scenes are quite impressive, but they can’t shake of that staged look that always comes off in martial arts fight scenes and why the muffled sound for every kick and hit? Best moment? The unintentional laughter caused by a tumble weed (though you have to be eagle eyed to see it) tumbling past in the background during a key moment of dialogue towards the end of the film. A perfect summation, almost. Though this had its Premier in 2011, it wasn’t officially released until this year so we have our first possible entrant for the worst 10 films for 2012 already. The film ends with Antonio Banderas (who for some reason appears to be using his Puss voice from Shrek, providing yet more unintentional laughs) looking at the camera and uttering a four letter word expletive. In terms of the plot it’s about the only mildly clever moment in the film, but it does also handily double up as a one word review for the film overall.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
See Antonio Banderas above. Rating: 3/10.