No So High Wire

Those of you checking in tonight for my thoughts on this week's double dose of Glee will unfortunately have to wait for a day or two. Instead of nesting in front of the television tonight, I went to see the touring production of the Broadway musical Wicked... which, of course, will surely warrant its own post as well. But don't fret. I had a movie review written up ahead of time and ready to go:

Earlier this year, director Steven Soderbergh's action spy movie, Haywire, breezed quickly through theaters. As with many of Soderbergh's films, it boasted an impressive cast that drew my attention, including Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Douglas.

The film's star, however, was a less known quantity -- to me, at least. Gina Carano's previous claim to fame was as one of the American Gladiators. This film takes advantage of her athletic background, putting her at the lead of a spy-on-the-run thriller that hops across exotic locations. She's honestly not much of an actor, but the film actually doesn't call on her to "act" much. She mostly just kicks ass, and is quite convincing at it.

The look and feel of the film is top notch. Soderbergh, as always, knows how to frame a perfect shot, and knows how to stage a sequence to tell a story. His film has many sequences with the kinetic energy of the Bourne movies, but without the shaky handheld camera work that gives many people nausea. It's very well staged and good looking action.

The problem is, the script is nothing you haven't seen in countless other movies, including those aforementioned Bourne movies. Haywire is an all too conventional tale of a burned agent out to get to the bottom of the conspiracy that burned her. The plot unravels in a very paint-by-numbers way, unique only in a nested flashback narrative device, itself cribbed from other kinds of movies. There are no surprises in its brief 90 minutes.

All told, your decision to see his movie should stem from whether you generally enjoy movies "like this." Because I guarantee you've seen a movie like this. If you have an appreciation of style and technique in filmmaking, you'll want to see it. If you're looking for something exciting and different, this isn't it. In my book, it's a C+. Well executed, but nothing extraordinary.