Haywire (2011)

A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writer:

Lem Dobbs

Stars:

Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gina Carano	...	Mallory Kane
Michael Angarano	...	Scott
Channing Tatum	...	Aaron
Debby Lynn Ross	...	Diner Waitress (as Debby Ross Rondell)
Michael Douglas	...	Alex Coblenz
Antonio Banderas	...	Rodrigo
Ewan McGregor	...	Kenneth
Julian Alcaraz	...	Victor
Eddie J. Fernandez	...	Barroso
Lluís Botella Pont	...	Helpful Guy (as Lluís Botella)
Aaron Cohen	...	Jamie
Max Arciniega	...	Gomez
Anthony Brandon Wong	...	Jiang
Michael Fassbender	...	Paul
James Flynn	...	Hotel Clerk

Storyline

Freelance covert operative Mallory Kane is hired out by her handler to various global entities to perform jobs which governments can't authorize and heads of state would rather not know about. After a mission to rescue a hostage in Barcelona, Mallory is quickly dispatched on another mission to Dublin. When the operation goes awry and Mallory finds she has been double crossed, she needs to use all of her skills, tricks and abilities to escape an international manhunt, make it back to the United States, protect her family, and exact revenge on those that have betrayed her.

---

Plot Keywords:

cleavage | super soldier | die hard scenario | assassin | one woman army | 

---

Taglines:

They left her no choice.

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

Ireland USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

20 January 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Knockout

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,425,370, 22 January 2012

Gross USA:

$18,942,396

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$33,372,606

Company Credits

Production Co:

Relativity Media, Screen Ireland

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gina Carano's voice was altered for the film, giving her character a deeper-sounding voice.

---

Goofs

When Mallory & Scott are driving, she tells him to have a drink of water in her backpack. She wants some too, but has to have him pour it in her mouth because of an injury to her arm. However, just minutes later while running from law enforcement, she is backing up at a high rate of speed, her bad arm is extended and gripping the passenger seat tightly.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Mallory Kane: Shit.
[deep breath]
Aaron: [sitting down] What the hell are you doing out here? I had to drive all night. I'm hungover as shit. And you're really starting to cut into my vacation time, so can we go please?

---

Connections

Featured in Conan: The Guy Who Actually Went to the Gym He Joined on New Year's Day (2012)

User Reviews

"You shouldn't think of her as being a woman. That would be a mistake."

Screenwriter Lem Dobbs and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh fashioned this ultimately routine globe-trotting action thriller as a vehicle for famed Mixed Martial Arts fighter Gina Carano. Gina shows poise in the role of Mallory Kane, an operative for a private firm hired to retrieve a kidnapped journalist. Things go wrong, and eventually she is double crossed; an attempt is made on her life. Naturally, she will go on the lam and be on a mission of vengeance; she desperately relates her story (what she knows of it, anyway) to an innocent young man (Michael Angarano) as she appropriates his car and his services.

The film certainly looks great, but as a showcase for Ginas' fighting skills, it's not all it could be. She does righteously kick some ass, and look great doing it, but the relatively brief "Haywire" (running an hour and 33 minutes) does get rather bogged down in story. Ginas' screen presence is fine, although she was apparently dubbed by actress Laura San Giacomo, with whom Soderbergh worked on "Sex, Lies and Videotape". Still, it's easy enough to root for her, and Soderbergh keeps the pedal to the metal throughout. The story is nothing special, but for anybody who might get confused, it all gets explained right near the end.

Soderbergh made sure to surround Gina with excellent co-stars who could help to do some of the heavy lifting: Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Fassbender, Mathieu Kassovitz. McGregor is enjoyably slimy as her boss, and Paxton is wonderfully low key as her loving dad.

"Haywire" is technically a slick picture, and the propulsive music score by David Holmes helps to drive the tale forward. It wastes no time getting into the story, as the title & credits are saved for the final several minutes of the run time. At the very least, it proved that Carano had the potential to be an icon in this genre.

Six out of 10.