Why I Liked Haywire, But Think Most People Won't

aka Kel Becomes A Pretentious Movie Hipster

I don't tend to write much about movies on here, mostly because I tend to watch tv or read more than watch movies and I have a problem where I tend to like pretty much any movie I watch. It doesn't make for the most exciting reading. However, after seeing Haywire, I felt compelled to write about it.

Before I start, I want to say that I really really liked Haywire. I thought it had a really interesting narrative and a unique style to the filming and tons of super awesome ass kicking. With all of that said, I'm not sure everyone will get it. For example, I went to see it with my friend Sarah. Sarah and I tend to like the same movies. When the credits hit, I was all "Oh man! That was so great! I really loved that." And Sarah was like "Yeah...it was ok."

I think part of the problem is that "interesting narrative" to me means "interesting" and to other people means "weird and didn't really make sense". The plot definitely doesn't follow a coherent time line. And doesn't really introduce any of the character. It literally just jumps into the middle of the narrative. For most of the movie, they keep referencing things like Dublin, Barcelona, and Kenneth before introducing any of those things. I happen to dig that. As you are watching the movie, you have no idea why Mallory, the main character played by MMA fighter Gina Carano, is on the run and beating the crap out of Adam, Channing Tatum. And as Sarah pointed out, they never really explain it. The viewer really has to put together all the pieces from the flashbacks. I like that in a movie, but not everyone does. (Example of Kelly liking movies that make no sense: Chumscrubber. I've seen that movie probably a dozen times and still don't know what it is about, but I still dig it.)

I'm concerned that not many people are going to go see Haywire. I know that going into it the only thing I knew was that Gina Carano can kick ass in real life and there are tons of actors that I liked in it (Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas). Really, it needed more and better marketing. Especially since Stephen Soderbergh is a really good director, see: Oceans 11. However, I saw pretty much no previews for it and only saw a clip on EW.com.

So, to conclude: I really loved Haywire. It was epically kick ass. Gina Carano was so fantastically bad ass and I definitely believe that she could kill people with her bare hands if she so chose. Also, can we just take a moment to reveal in a hot, strong, normal woman being the epic lead of a bad ass movie. Wicked! I recommend going to see it, but also recommend not really worrying about trying to figure out what is going on until the end. Trust me, it all comes together.