Haywire

Haywire has a pretty basic plot when you get down to it. You have Mallory Kane (Gina Carano), who works for a company that sometimes gets hired by government agencies. She's on a seemingly easy job when she finds the body of a guy she helped rescue on her prior mission, and his corpse is holding a broach she had been told to wear for a meet. So she uses her various skills to stay alive until she can figure out what's going on and track down the people responsible.

The first hour of the film is Mallory relating the story thus far to Scott, a sort generic, friendly, everyday guy who tried to help when she was attacked in a diner. So she stole his car and brought him along. Eventually the story reaches the present, and the plot largely proceeds without Scott. He's fulfilled his plot function, I suppose. It feels a bit awkward, but I can sort of excuse it because I think Mallory intended to get where she was going, then give Scott his car back, so better to bring him along. Plus, it helps to have someone who knows her side of things.

And she would have gotten away with it if not for that pesky deer division of the local law enforcement.

Mallory's mostly all business, with a bit of sarcasm thrown in, and Carano handles that well. She doesn't tend to express much of a softer side, as she's kind of gruff even in her directions to Scott, but she is certainly concerned for his well-being (since she dragged him into this and all), so I take that as being her way. Mallory does look a bit uncomfortable when asked to wear a pretty gown, which fits with her claim that she doesn't play eye candy. Carano, being an actual mixed martial artist, excels in the fight scenes, and the film leaves her to it. There aren't a lot of fancy camera cuts, no nausea inducing, shaky camera crap (hear that, Bourne films?), and no soundtrack. It's just people hitting each other with whatever's available until the other person stops. There was a very nice funk beat during the sequence in Dublin where she escapes from the police over rooftops.

Mallory tends to get hit first in most of the fights, but I take it as her letting the other person commit themselves to this. She won't hit unless they give her a reason. There's also a sequence at night where she's decked out in dark clothes and camo makeup on her face. She charges down a hall, out a door and over a railing and it was a bit like watching a jungle cat move. A panther, or something else lean and dangerous that should be given a wide berth. There's another bit where Mallory runs down an alley and people appear in shot behind her almost like the wake from her passing is sucking them into the shot.

The movie has several stretches of no dialogue. A character walking, along a beach or to a hotel room, or perhaps sitting and talking. In some cases, it's a bit like a horror film, where the viewer knows the attack will come from somewhere, but where? Other times, it's more like a Leone film, where it's two characters, and they both know there'll be violence, but each one is waiting for the moment to start. Combine this with the lack of musical cues for a fight scene and there were two different occasions where I glanced away briefly from a seemingly calm scene, only to whip my head back to see someone's face being bounced off a countertop. It's a sort of sparse, efficient style, characters who are focused on their goal, not spouting pithy one-liners or mustache twirling speeches. That decision works with the direction the film goes, that this is about people just trying to do their jobs, and it isn't about being cool or glamorous.

All the other actors do their jobs well (of course Antonio Banderas' character would end up on a sunny beach with a beautiful woman in a bikini bringing him drinks. He's Antonio Banderas.), especially Ewan McGregor, who does a good job of playing a guy trying to look in charge, who is really struggling furiously to keep his head above water. He has this sweaty, disheveled look most of the film that undercuts the image he's trying to present.

All in all, I'd recommend it, moreso than I would Chronicle, if you're keeping score at home.