1. Notes: 3 / 4 months ago 
    There aren’t a lot of filmmakers as prolific as Steven Soderbergh. Since 1998 he’s directed 16 movies. Between 1998 and 2001 alone he made Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean’s Eleven. That’s a hell of a run (especially when you consider that Erin Brockovich and Traffic were nominated against each other in the Best Picture and Best Director categories at the 2001 Academy Awards — Soderbergh took home Best Director for Traffic). But Soderbergh doesn’t just make a lot of movies, he makes a lot of very different movies. He followed up crowd pleaser Ocean’s Eleven with the experimental Full Frontal and then the sci-fi downer Solaris. He put out an epic two-part Che Guevara biopic in 2008, then made a low budget movie about the financial crisis starring a porn star the next year. And this fall he directed the pandemic thriller Contagion, following it up just months later with minimalist action movie Haywire (in theatres now) Haywire is a fun little movie. It’s light on plot and heavy on style, much like The Limey (Soderbergh’s last collaboration with screenwriter Lem Dobbs, and one of his best films). It stars MMA fighter Gina Carano as a kind of freelance spy who goes on the run after she’s betrayed by her bosses. While the premise is nothing new, the way Soderbergh stages the fight sequences and utilizes Carano’s mixed martial arts training makes it feel more plausible than your average action flick. That isn’t Angelina Jolie’s stunt double getting thrown into a wall, it’s the star of the movie. And even though the movie has a spectacular score by David Holmes, the fight scenes play out without music, making them seem even more realistic and brutal.  Critics are loving Haywire but audiences aren’t (of course, one of the negative reviews I saw was from a girl who only saw it because the new Underworld movie was sold out, so I’m not that surprised Haywire wasn’t her thing). It’s definitely more of an art house film than the usual Hollywood action movie, but if Drive could connect with audiences then this should too. It’s too bad, because I’d love to see Haywire become a franchise. Carano is likable and could definitely develop as an actress (a lot of people have criticized her performance but I think she’s fine in the non-fighting scenes). Even if Soderbergh just stayed on as an executive producer and handed the property off to another director, the world he created feels like it could be good for two or three low budget sequels. I mean, it worked for The Transporter. Regardless, Haywire is definitely worth a look.

    There aren’t a lot of filmmakers as prolific as Steven Soderbergh. Since 1998 he’s directed 16 movies. Between 1998 and 2001 alone he made Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean’s Eleven. That’s a hell of a run (especially when you consider that Erin Brockovich and Traffic were nominated against each other in the Best Picture and Best Director categories at the 2001 Academy Awards — Soderbergh took home Best Director for Traffic).

    But Soderbergh doesn’t just make a lot of movies, he makes a lot of very different movies. He followed up crowd pleaser Ocean’s Eleven with the experimental Full Frontal and then the sci-fi downer Solaris. He put out an epic two-part Che Guevara biopic in 2008, then made a low budget movie about the financial crisis starring a porn star the next year. And this fall he directed the pandemic thriller Contagion, following it up just months later with minimalist action movie Haywire (in theatres now)

    Haywire is a fun little movie. It’s light on plot and heavy on style, much like The Limey (Soderbergh’s last collaboration with screenwriter Lem Dobbs, and one of his best films). It stars MMA fighter Gina Carano as a kind of freelance spy who goes on the run after she’s betrayed by her bosses. While the premise is nothing new, the way Soderbergh stages the fight sequences and utilizes Carano’s mixed martial arts training makes it feel more plausible than your average action flick. That isn’t Angelina Jolie’s stunt double getting thrown into a wall, it’s the star of the movie. And even though the movie has a spectacular score by David Holmes, the fight scenes play out without music, making them seem even more realistic and brutal. 

    Critics are loving Haywire but audiences aren’t (of course, one of the negative reviews I saw was from a girl who only saw it because the new Underworld movie was sold out, so I’m not that surprised Haywire wasn’t her thing). It’s definitely more of an art house film than the usual Hollywood action movie, but if Drive could connect with audiences then this should too.

    It’s too bad, because I’d love to see Haywire become a franchise. Carano is likable and could definitely develop as an actress (a lot of people have criticized her performance but I think she’s fine in the non-fighting scenes). Even if Soderbergh just stayed on as an executive producer and handed the property off to another director, the world he created feels like it could be good for two or three low budget sequels. I mean, it worked for The Transporter. Regardless, Haywire is definitely worth a look.

     

  2. Notes

    1. liketheappliance posted this
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Welcome to '... like the appliance', a collection of random thoughts from Anton Blender. Mostly about pop culture, a lot on comic books and television.

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