This might come as a surprise, but the director of “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” and “Kafka” has made something very different from those movies: a stylish action piece. I joke, of course. Those were Steven Soderbergh’s first two films, but after helping to transform independent film — and, with it, American cinema in general — he soon turned to making stylish genre flicks. He’s now better known as the director of the popular heist “Ocean’s Eleven” and its two sequels than as the young auteur whose debut won the Palme d’Or, making him the award’s youngest-ever recipient.
His latest, “Haywire,” won’t earn any laurels at Cannes. But it might offer the most fun to be had at the cineplex this January full of alternately dark and dismal releases.
| On screen |
| ‘Haywire’ |
| 2.5 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender |
| Director: Steven Soderbergh |
| Rated: R for some violence |
| Running time: 105 minutes |
As he did with porn star Sasha Grey in 2009’s “The Girlfriend Experience,” the iconoclastic director has found an actress outside the business and handed her a juicy lead role. In “Haywire,” former mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano steps out of the ring and onto the big screen as Mallory Kane, a covert operative whose current mission is to save not, say, a dissident Chinese journalist, but herself.
Mallory’s been double-crossed, framed for a murder she didn’t commit. She’s less worried about clearing her name than keeping it alive, though: Just about every man in this film, it seems, wants to kill her. Those men include some unlikely names, such as Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender.
I don’t want to say much more than that. “Haywire” jumps right into the action, leaving lots of questions and a delicious sense of mystery that remains until the very end.
There’s plenty of that action, too. We’d expect a woman like Carano to shine in the fight scenes, and she doesn’t disappoint. “Haywire” features some pretty cool moves. Unlike the battles in too many action films these days, their interest doesn’t lie in “Matrix”-style special effects. Mallory uses whatever is at hand — even if it’s just a wall — to get the better of her opponents. The former Marine is the kind of girl who can deal with two Irish Garda single-handedly.
“Haywire” moves from upstate New York to Washington, and all the way to Barcelona, Majorca and Dublin. David Holmes’ score is very James Bond-esque. But despite all its wit, “Haywire” doesn’t seem so special. Soderbergh took genre work to the next level with his 1990s crime films “Out of Sight” and “The Limey.” The wunderkind is still, it seems, finding his voice.
