Collegiate Times

Acrobatic sparring scenes, shootouts in the streets of Dublin, a rogue agent fighting for her life — the formula for a great action thriller, right? Wrong.

Steven Soderbergh’s newest film, “Haywire,” has the same formulaic plot of almost every movie in the espionage genre. Even beautifully choreographed fight scenes and Soderbergh’s track record of great movies cannot help the fact that “Haywire” is a bore. 

Gina Carano stars as a skilled private agent hired by the U.S. government to complete certain missions, such as rescuing political hostages. Carano, who was unknown to me prior to watching the film, is primarily a mixed martial arts champion. Acting is her secondary niche. Because of her background, I assume that many of the stunts were actually performed by Carano and not a stunt double.

The film’s greatest strengths are the fight scenes featuring Carano. Typically, action movies create fight scenes out of a pile of two-second shots. The camera never focuses on any aspect or angle too long. Whether this is to heighten the drama or conceal the fact the actor cannot actually back flip 10 feet into the air depends on the movie.

However, “Haywire” lets the viewer actually see fights occur. Composed of only a few shots, the camera moves with the actors, changing angles only when necessary. I found myself understanding the rhythm of the fistfights, rather than drooling at a montage of 500 different cutaways and slow-motion high kicks. Carano turns her battles into complicated dances.

Unfortunately, the negatives outnumber the positives of this movie. Well-known actors Michael Douglas and Ewan McGregor co-star, but Channing Tatum overshadows their more-refined talents. He doesn’t have a major role, but his oafish acting steals any scene he appears in. 

I hate to bash Tatum; he seems like a nice person in real life. However, his acting is just abominable. I have seen extras with more talent than him. Still, he is the one making millions of dollars from his subpar performances, so while I may laugh at him in the theaters, he is the one really cracking up. After all, I paid to see his movie.

Altogether, “Haywire” is not a bad film. It is fast paced and is not bogged down with any meaningless subplots or goopy romances. What really bothered me was that I felt like I had seen this type of movie before — more than once. Although the protagonist is female, which is unique in the genre, the rest of the movie felt stale.

It seems like every few months another film comes out boasting an action-packed adventure about a secret agent who has been framed. Sure, you could make the argument that if one really looks at the different genres, there are only a few different story lines that can actually occur. Each director is merely imagining it in a slightly different way.

But when I can predict the outcome of the movie in the first five minutes, there is a problem. An exception to this is a bad disaster movie like “2012” or “Independence Day.” They’re completely predictable but somehow completely irresistible to me.

Again, “Haywire” is not bad. Carano shines with her spry movement and badass attitude. The editing is well done and the whole movie flows, leaving viewers little time to catch their breath. But I can’t overlook the overdone storyline.

“Haywire” was good, but not good enough to keep me from staring at my watch every 20 minutes and sighing when my predictions played out. If you are a fan of this sort of movie, then you will probably enjoy it. For those who are a little more wary of seeing it, I would suggest you rent “The Bourne Identity” (2002) instead. Matt Damon may not really know how to defeat dozens of highly trained special agents, but he sure makes it interesting.

A version of this article appeared in the Jan 24 issue of the Collegiate Times.