‘Haywire’ Review: Sexy, Taut and Tough

Step aside Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt; there’s a new tougher and sexier spy in town.

Gina Carano may not have the acting chops of Matt Damon or Tom Cruise, but she’s certainly no Steven Segal either. With a host of strong male co-stars to lend her support, Carano, even with a few hiccups along the way, is able to adequately entertain for 93 minutes in Haywire. Even more so, the cliffhanger ending leaves you wanting more. Not of the confusing plot, but of her.

Carano’s character, Mallory Kane is one cool cat.

Although her misgivings as an actor don’t help the film, (the voice dubs are obvious at times) the larger problems have to do with the multi-layered plot. In spite of that, “Haywire,” at the very least, is a rock-em sock-em tribute to old school action flicks, with a yummy new vixen we’re definitely sure to hear more from.

Director Steven Soderbergh has long said he’s a fan of early James Bond flicks and while the ode to those films is present in “Haywire,” especially in the music and shot selection, the picture is ultimately memorable for the gritty fight scenes and uber-sexy lead star. The Don Siegel-inspired shots and language, double-crossings and not knowing what’s coming next, feels borrowed from his other films, mainly “Ocean’s 11.” The big-name cast, also a staple of the Soderbergh style, is in full effect here as well. While Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender and Ewan McGregor are all solid, the need for them is minimal.

After the film’s first fight scene, it’s obvious that Carano’s skills as an MMA fighter and her look translate beautifully to the big screen. That’s where this flick shines. Not the hard-to-follow plot, which has Kane on the run after she’s double-crossed, not all players involved or the way it all comes to a close.

This picture is all about Carano’s ability to be a sultry and seductive, yet tough-as-nails bitch who doesn’t have friends. Her life is all about taking out her targets and the amount of cash she gets for her time. She’s great at her job. She knows it. Carano’s ability in the octagon in real-life only makes this easier to convey. So much so that if the Grim reaper had C-cups and could slap on a rear-naked choke in a flash, it might be Carano under the hood. It’s sad that Soderbergh felt the need to protect Carano when it becomes clear by the climax of the flick that she can defend herself on-screen just fine.

The end result is an adventure that tries too hard to be something special. The scope and locations across the world are great and add a level of intrigue, but it wasn’t needed either. Action buffs don’t care about that. They want to see those fights. Thankfully, that’s exactly what Carano gives them.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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