"KEEP BUSTIN'."

Ladies and gentlemen, the HAYWIRE trailer

tn_haywireFirst we waited for them to decide to release HAYWIRE (it’s set for January 20th), now thanks to the nerds of comics conventioning they decided to also try to advertise it. They had a panel at the San Diego Comics Club (anybody go?) so they also released the poster and the trailer online.

The trailer seems to support my theory that Steven Soderbergh + Lem (THE LIMEY) Dobbs + “The Face of Women’s MMA” Gina Carano + topnotch supporting cast + fight choreographer JJ (UNDISPUTED II) Perry = thank god they finally decided to make a real action movie and release it in theaters.

Click on the click here thing for the trailer and more comments

So you can see why I’m excited for this one, right? After several years of having to learn how to appreciate post-action movies like SALT and THE MECHANIC REMAKE where I have to look really hard to find a clear action beat, here’s a whole bunch of them that look great even cut into a trailer and viewed on my jittery over the hill computer. At the same time it’s full of badass character moments and situations and still maintains a serious not-treating-you-like-an-idiot feel (not that I’m against ludicrousness, obviously. I’m a staunch supporter of ludicrousness).

I think Soderbergh has one of the most consistent track records of any working director. Maybe it’s because he’s so eager to experiment – even in the rare cases where he blows it I at least think “well, I like that he tried that.” Every one of his movies is at least interesting, almost all of them are pretty good to great. This reminds me alot of the tone of one of his very best, THE LIMEY, combined with his take on a BOURNE type of thriller.

Somewhere that posted this trailer, I forget where, they claimed Carano had “stiff line readings” and they were worried about that. I gotta call bullshit on that. I’ve watched the trailer like six times now and I don’t know which part you would say that about. I don’t think there’s any way they would’ve said that if they hadn’t read she was a fighter and assumed she was an actress. If it was true I would still question it, because if you can’t dig on the concept of an athlete, martial artist, body builder or wrestler starring in a movie due to their physical abilities, charisma and presence more than their nuanced acting skills then obviously you don’t like action movies so why do we care what your opinion is on this trailer?

Think of it this way: her acting is better than Van Damme’s generally is. And if this was a trailer for a new Van Damme movie I’d still be fucking excited. Not to mention we’re dealing with a director who has gotten good performances out of Jennifer Lopez, Sasha Grey and the manager of a KFC.

The point is my hopes are up. If this isn’t great I’m gonna be real disappointed. HAYWIRE and PROMETHEUS are my official list of Most Anticipated Movies.

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You can find my live coverage of Imaginary Comic Con on the “Twitter” websight

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83 Responses to “Ladies and gentlemen, the HAYWIRE trailer”

  1. Actually, her acting does come across as kind of bad. Also, I was hoping for more of an MMA feel in the fight scenes.

    The movie still looks awesome as hell, though. Great action, nice and direct action movie plot, and obviously the amount of talent involved makes me a little giddy.

  2. I can’t get excited about this. I’ve learned to be skeptical when there’s this many big names on a poster, it almost always ends up being messy. Judging by the trailer it looks like every actor will only have a couple minutes of screentime (with the great Fassbender apparently getting killed instantly). I’d probably still be skeptical even if it was Statham doing the asskicking instead of a girl.

    That’s another thing, can you name one good American action film where the lead was female? I mean the type of action film where it’s one hero/super agent/kung fu expert against an army of bad guys (so Aliens is out).

  3. Shit, I wasn’t thinking of Barb Wire. Barb Wire was fucking fantastic.

  4. Ok, ok, so there’s Kill Bill and The Long Kiss Goodnight. I’m still saying it’s pretty rare.

  5. Yeah, but mostly American mainstream (action) filmmakers don’t know how to treat female characters right. Most of the time we get an action film with a female star, it’s just some silly male fantasy bimbo* in a tight catsuit, who just should look good while doing high kicks in slow motion, or spreads childish girl power paroles like “who needs men? Women are so much better ass kickers”**.

    So I think if anybody can pull off an action movie with a female asskicker, that comes across as neither “wow, tits” or “boo, men”, I think Soderbergh can.

    *Did you know that “bimbo” is a very racist slur for black people in the German language? It took me a while till I got used to it’s “dumb, pretty girl” meaning in English.

    **Not saying that women can’t kick ass or that I would hate strong women. I just hate that caricature that acts even worse than the male macho stereotype.

  6. Well Mike A, I have also trouble naming *bad* action movies like that. American super agent / kung fu expert action heroines are a rare breed, and in general you are going to find 30 times more action movies with male leads in them.

    This looks good to me. I’m not familiar with Gina, but she seems likable and can obviously kick ass. Anyone complaining about her acting hopefully has always repeated those complaints with every single Arnie/JVCD/Stallone/Seagal/Dolph/etc action movie ever made.

  7. Also talking about that Comic Con: Did you read the stuff about GHOST RIDER 2? Sounds seriously awesome. Unfortunately it’s a Neveldine/Taylor film, so we all know how this will end up.

  8. And regardless, I think that Salt, Charlie’s Angels, Long Kiss Goodnight, Kill Bill, Matrix, Wanted and Mr. & Mrs. Smith were all good. Those should fit the either the “super agent” or “kung fu expert” definition.

  9. This trailer demonstrates that it’s not about the song, but how you play it.

    It’s a generic badass hyper trained special operative betrayed by the government seeking revenge kind of deal. But it’s got a hell of a cast and neat looking action sequences.

    Soderbergh is an interesting choice for material like this, but I trust him to carry it, and I also trust his choice for the lead actress. Carano can definitely kick ass. Hopefully her acting is up to the task as well. Seemed solid in the trailer.

    And holy shit, Fassbender is in *everything* these days.

    I’m waiting for this with great interest.

  10. The main thing I don’t like about this trailer is it seems to give away some huge plot points. And I don’t mean “they betray her” which anyone can figure out, but the fact that she appears to kill a couple of the movie’s big stars in the freaking trailer!

    Still looking forward to this – and re: the whole female ass-kicking genre- I still maintain the fight sequences in Charlie’s Angels 1 were shockingly good (and the dirt bike scene in Part 2 is up there with any Star Wars action sequence. I’m not kidding). And on the non-jiggle side, if you guys haven’t seen Angel of Death (web series starring Zoe Bell I’m sure you can find online somewhere), you should check it out. Great, Bourne-like fight scenes that pull no punches. Having someone who can take a hit like Carano or Bell really does open up the ways you can shoot and edit an action sequence. In fact, it makes me more convinced the fight scenes in Salt were filmed that way (by the normally competent Noyce) because if someone actually hit Angelina Jolie she’d shatter into a million pieces.

  11. holy shit, that looks awesome, I love women kicking ass

    throw a really short skirt, a short haircut and a white smoking jacket on her and this could almost be a Najica Blitz tactics movie

  12. Neal2zod, yeah, the action sequences in Charlie’s Angels are very good. It just happened to be a time when wire-fu was a bit of cliche due to success of Matrix, which is why the film’s action got a bad rap.

    Despite story weaknesses, some of the action sequences in Terminator Salvation are phenomenal. McG has a great eye for action, I hope he returns to the genre soon.

  13. billydeethrilliams

    July 23rd, 2011 at 5:16 am

    I’m just glad Channing Tatum gets the shit kicked out of him. Bland bastard.

  14. Far from the biggest Soderbergh fan but this shit definitely has my cash on the first weekend. Refreshing to see a girl who legitimately & convincingly kicks ass on the big screen.

  15. Oh – and one more thing – it’s nice to see Michael Angarano in this. He was fantastic in Sky High and I feel bad for him because he’s constantly being called “The Poor Man’s Shia Leboeuf” when they showed up around the same time. Well, now he gets to work with Soderbergh while LeBeouf can go on working with Bay.

    And also there’s that “the entire entertainment industry/coalition of little girls basically approves of your girlfriend Kristen Stewart cheating on you with Robert Pattinson because they sorta look cute together and it’s kinda romantic since they’re in a movie together” thing. I guess there’s no consolation for that.

  16. As for examples of bad films with female ass-kickers, here’s a few: Tomb Raider, Underworld, Resident Evil, Aeon Flux, Charlie’s Angels (sorry, not a fan), Dead Or Alive, Domino…

    Salt I’d say wasn’t bad or good, just bland. Mr and Mrs Smith did nothing for me, Wanted was more about McAvoy, and The Matrix… ok, I’ll put that one in the “good” category.

  17. A few years ago I had the idea for a female action movie, with a heroine who dresses more practical than sexy. Instead or running around and fighting in high heels, she would wear sneakers and sweat pants whenever she could.
    (She also had the habit of blasting 90’s Eurodance song at full volume when in her car, but that was more an unnecessary character quirk.)

  18. ah Aeon Flux, such wasted potential

    now there’s a movie Hollywood should be “rebooting”

  19. “As for examples of bad films with female ass-kickers, here’s a few: Tomb Raider, Underworld, Resident Evil, Aeon Flux, Charlie’s Angels (sorry, not a fan), Dead Or Alive, Domino…”

    …It seems to me that half of those movies don’t really fit the criteria you gave. Why are we allowed to mention Resident Evil, but no Aliens? It’s okay to fight zombies, but not aliens? Are we allowed to mention Terminator 2? Or is fighting robots not allowed? Is Domino really considered an action film, when it has almost no action in it?

    I actually think that none of the those films are bad, they range from average to good. All of them have their defenders on these boards.

  20. Knox Harrington

    July 23rd, 2011 at 7:30 am

    Soderbergh can get a good performance out of anyone. He’s the only director who could ever get Andie MacDowell to be believable in a role. Not even the great Peter Weir could do that.

    P.s. You guys should really watch The Way Back. It’s possibly Weir’s last film, and it’s a damn good one. Also, it features Saoirse Ronan a.k.a Hanna, my new favourite female ass-kicker.

  21. That trailer could be great if they had just taken out the damn voiceover guy. He makes it seem as if the film is going straight to video. But I still see tons of potential beyond the fact that it’s directed by Soderbergh (which means I will probably see the film no matter what).

  22. I have never wanted to be beat up by a woman so bad in my life.

  23. It irks me to see films like TOMB RAIDER or MR AND MRS SMITH where you have this 110 pound girl with arms like a ten year old boy and she hits some big guy in the face and he goes down. Seriously, I would let Angelina Jolie punch me straight in the face for ten bucks and I bet it wouldn’t even hurt.

    Not that a woman can’t be in a great action scene or can’t seem dangerous. The scene that immediately comes to mind for me is Sharon Stone beating up Arnie in TOTAL RECALL.

    This Gina girl has some cred though, so it’s good to see some actual fighting talent get in a movie so you don’t necessarily have to suspend your disbelief out the window by its ankles.

  24. You know what? Charlie’s Angels is a decent movie but nobody ever talks about McG’s amazing single shot sequence in the middle of the movie when Sam Rockwell goes from nice guy to evil bastard. By going around in circles like that it really gives you an idea how Drew Barrymore’s character confusion as to what’s going on. Probably the single best thing McG will ever do in his entire life.

  25. I do remember that shot. A great physical acting performance from Sam Rockwell. That was the shot where I started to notice that guy.

  26. Getting a good performance out of J.Lo is like teaching a dog how to talk.That is quite an achievement. So yeah Soderbergh has my approval. I have fond memories of THE LIMEY and OUT OF SIGHT so he can obviously make good genrepictures that suits my taste in movies

  27. Teddy Jack Eddy

    July 23rd, 2011 at 9:16 am

    I’m not liking this. Yes, it looks like old-school, coherent action. But it seems kind of bland and imitated. I’ll definitely see it, though, due to the folks involved.

  28. ..the reason I used a dog as an example is because that stupid ass “Pitbull-Lambada” song is played
    to death on swedish radio right now. I swear to God, I don´t know which is worst;”Pi-Lam” or that “theme” from THE SHIELD!

  29. People get silly when judging acting. I’m actually convinced that most people don’t even know what good or bad acting is. I think people just arbitrarily throw the “bad acting” card in the mix sometimes. Especially when someone’s star is rising (See Megan Fox) or in the case Vern mentioned where their day job isn’t acting. (See Justin Timberlake. I actually read this the other day, “Timberlake’s future as an actor remains unproven” What the fuck does that mean?)

    Then of course if you’re someone like Rob Schnieder you get shit on no matter how good you are. Seriously, if you can watch 50 First Dates or Zohan and tell me that Rob Schnieder is a bad actor I’m gonna have to call shenanigans. You may not like him or think he’s not funny, but a bad actor? I don’t think so.

  30. I don´t like Schneider, but he is very good at what he does. It´s just that comedy is matter of taste more than anything else.

  31. I agree that people are weird about judging acting. Any performance can seem bad if you start looking for the cracks in it. Some people think anything that is not either complete naturalism is bad. I think there are different styles of acting that fit different kinds of movies. Sometimes a little theatricality fits a movie. Some movies require Oscar reel showboating. Sometimes even flat line readings are a specific stylistic choice. I’m generally easier on actors than most because if someone reads a line weird I just think that that’s how that dude talks. If all the world’s a stage, some of us are bad actors in our daily lives, so why shouldn’t we see those people in movies?

    I’ll also concede that Rob Schneider was good in 50 FIRST DATES. He managed to give his Hawaiian caricature some depth beyond the typical “recurring SNL skit” level. Not that I saw that movie. I was watching a documentary about one-armed lumberjacks that night.

    In other news, do you think she put that camo makeup all over her body like in COMMANDO? Because if so, wow.

  32. And am I the only one who hates it that people suddenly refer to every lively performance as “hammy”? I mean, some people REALLY have to learn when it is appropriate to consider a performance as that.

  33. Hell yeah, CJ. I like a hammy performance. I like to see the actor putting some extra sauce on there for my amusement. When I pay for a monkey show, I want to see the monkey dance, not stand around pretending he doesn’t know how.

    But there’s no accounting for taste. If a performance rubs you wrong there’s really not much you can do about it. Some people apparently think Gary Oldman was terrible in LEON. Those people are what we like to refer to as “wrong” but there’s nothing we can say to change their mind because those people are obviously fucked up on a molecular level.

  34. I love hammy performances is most cases. Especially when it’s Al Pacino or Nic Cage doing it.

    The only example of straight up bad acting I can think of is the begining of Human Centipede. I specify the begining because the female characters I think got better when they had broader emotions like fear and anger to play with after shit started going down. At the begining when they were walking around and getting lost though, it just sounded like they were reading cue cards.

    Actually Nailgun Massacre has some obvious line readings in it too, but I won’t count that because that’s part of the movies charm.

    Here’s a question, what’s your favorite performance in a “bad” movie you didn’t like? I thought Judd Nelson was quite good in Cyber Mutt.

  35. okay, that trailer was fucking awesome!

    to heck with all you doubters

    what makes this look good is that it is straightforward and unironic and honest

    i think too many of you doubters posting here are just too jaded and too cynical and oh-so-wise for your own good. you’ve lost the essential child like love of cinema that’s THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT

    some of the posters here need to hang your heads in shame, go to your rooms, think about where you went wrong, reconnect with the 7 year old in you who first enjoyed a movie at one point in your life, and COME CLEAN

    cynicism is a poison. lose it

  36. Worst “hammy” performance – John Travolta in pretty much everything where he’s a bad guy. He’s the rare actor who gives mega-acting a bad name. His performance in Pelham 123 is absolutely unconvincing and terrible, and I get no joy out of watching him. Plus I saw Broken Arrow again on TV the other day, he’s damn near unwatchable. And yes, I do think his only good mega-acting performance was in Battlefield Earth b/c that was just so over the top crazy it can’t really be judged like a real movie.

    As for favorite performance in a “bad” movie – Gigli is probably a “bad” movie, but I liked alot about it. Walken and Pacino are both incredible in their scenes, Walken especially. Plus Affleck is kind of hilarious, and there’s that infamous “it’s turkey time, gobble gobble” stuff. An 80 minute version of Gigli would have been pretty good I think.

  37. “It irks me to see films like TOMB RAIDER or MR AND MRS SMITH where you have this 110 pound girl with arms like a ten year old boy and she hits some big guy in the face and he goes down. Seriously, I would let Angelina Jolie punch me straight in the face for ten bucks and I bet it wouldn’t even hurt.”

    RE:

    Due to my work I’ve visited a lot of the best martial arts gyms and dojo’s around the world, and I’ve seen many 110 pound girls who could easily beat up a guy two times bigger. Last year I met a multiple lightweight boxing world champion. Small girl, 110 pounds max. Also outstandingly fast, with amazing technique, and a great deal of punching power. In a fight she would render me unconscious in less then 10 seconds.

    Also, people get knocked out really easily when you punch them into an upheld jaw. It triggers body unconscious even when your opponent uses limited power. This happens fairly often to novice martial artists in light sparring. Your opponent doesn’t even try to knock you out, but he does it accidentally because you are not properly protecting your face.

    I have also met with a 3-time Kyokushin Karate world champion. Again a small girl, maybe 120 pounds max. Kicked so hard that taking her full-power kick to the leg would prevent me from walking during the next few hours. One kick and you’re down, unless you have conditioned yourself to a great degree, like top competitive martial artists do.

    Of course the girls were very toned and in amazing physical shape. But they were also small and lightweight.

  38. I find Travolta being extremely fun to watch; especailly in Broken Arrow, when his reaction to an atombomb going off is ” Goddamn,what a rush!” A reaction noone in the entire universe would share…

  39. I doubt this counts as a hammy performance, in fact I’m sure it doesn’t but I do love Travolta in Urban Cowboy. I wish that Travolta would come back for a movie or two.

    Did Travolta creep anybody else out in Hairspray?

  40. I did not watch HAIRSPRAY because I thought I might be creeped out.

  41. It looks alright, I’m sure Soderbergh has great stuff planned. I think the big thing holding the trailer back is the voiceover guy who could be narrating any Statham/Van-Damme/Adkins DTV (not that there’s anything wrong with those) not-so-much an auteuristic riff on a classic genre.

    The badass movie that’s got me fired up is DRIVE. Check out this trailer:
    http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50494

  42. Mike A. – It sounds like you’re saying that because there aren’t (in your opinion) many good female action movies that that means this isn’t one. But shouldn’t you be excited that this might be one? I don’t get it.

    My argument: I think this movie looks good, it’s a great director and writer he works well with, great cast and fight choreographer, the trailer is excellent and shows a type of story, approach and tone that are refreshing in the modern age of action and right up my alley

    Your argument (if I understand correctly): I’ve only seen a couple great action movies with women so this couldn’t be another one

  43. Not more Ryan Gosling shit…. I mean I don´t know the guy..but what the fuck? It could be good. But i think I pass my judgment until I see it. I don´t hold too many candles up though.

  44. Hamslime – re: Urban Cowboy – absolutely. Travolta’s great in a TON of movies, it’s just his myriad of villains where he’s terrible. (This includes Swordfish and From Paris with Love, where he may or may not be a villain and seems to be playing the same guy). In fact, looking over his filmography, I think the only villain role where he hasn’t gone horribly overboard is, of all things, The Punisher. (Don’t worry, Dominic West made up for him in the next one)

    And no, I can’t really explain or quantify why Travolta irks me, yet I fully enjoy Gary Oldman in The Professional (or Tommy Lee Jones in Under Siege, or Jeffrey Wright in Shaft 2000). There’s just a magic art to scenery chewing and Travolta, despite playing a villain about 500 times, can’t seem to get it right.

  45. On the other hand, Ryan O´Neal wasn´t much of an action guy and look at the Walter Hill directed DRIVER! Oh yeah!

  46. I completely agree with you about people seemingly not knowing how to judge acting, hamslime. Case in point: Jennifer Lopez. I think she is good in everything I’ve seen her in yet for some reason her acting inspires derision. I think it might be the “don’t quit your day job” thing. I don’t get it. I’ve seen first time actors in low budget movies who give genuinely bad performances. And I’ve seen Jennifer Lopez in U-TURN, OUT OF SIGHT, ANACONDA, etc.. Not the same thing at all. And I haven’t even seen SELENA, which I think is her most acclaimed performance.

    Nothing against first time actors giving bad performances, by the way. Over the years I’ve grown to really like bad acting. I think it’s because the vast majority of films feature competent acting. So it’s always a nice change of pace to see the performances where line memorization seems to be the extent of the ability. I think the naivete is kind of endearing. For instance, I really like the psychic’s daughter in PHANTASM who gives the only unprofessional acting job in the movie. It’s like rooting for the Bad News Bears. You don’t care if they win, it’s just fun watching them give it their best shot. Screw the Yankees with their acting classes and their innate talent.

  47. caruso_stalker217

    July 23rd, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    J-Lo was pretty good in ANGEL EYES.

  48. Jake:

    JLo was excellent in “Selena.”

    that’s a really good movie. she got that girl-to-woman, nobody-to-megastar awkwardness down 100%. and then she’s cut down just as she makes it in both transitions

    EJ Olmos was very good, he was simply dad. Jon Seda was good to, a real teenaged kid

    the acting directing and writing were top notch: they really respected the people in the story. the whole movie’s defining standout impression for me was it portrayed the characters as very human and very relatable. nothing felt phony or forced. you felt like these characters were genuine people you could know down the street, not empty media ciphers, which of course lent the tragedy the right dimension

  49. What also irks me (and I think I discussed this here already), is when people give actors shit for “always looking the same in every movie”. Of course it’s awesome when people like Johnny Depp or Jeffrey Combs are willing to completely disappear behind tons of make up or shave their head or speak with a different voice in every single movie, but that doesn’t mean that actors like Denzel Washington, who probably just changes his mustache every movie, are bad or unconvincing. Even though more and more people seem to think like that.

  50. I was actually going to bring up Jennifer Lopez as well. That’s a great example.

    Another one I think is hilarious is when people talk about “Larry The Cable Guy’s” bad acting. It seems they shoot themselves in the foot though because they’re calling him by his character’s name. It would be like if someone said, “That Ed Grimley is one of the worst actors I ever seen. I’m just tired of his wooden performance and that stupid hair. What is that anyway? After watching Mr. Grimley’s performance I think he’s a shoe-in for a Razzie nom this year.” See what I mean? Ridiculous!

    Seriously though check this out… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqm-vKWEkoU anybody that lives a character like Dan Whitney has is either considered mentaly ill or a genius. Whatever the case is, I call that dedication and great acting.

  51. Yeah, I’ve never quite understood that thinking that an actor must have great range for them to be a good actor. It’s weird because it implies you need to see multiple widely varying roles from someone before you can judge if a performance is good. “Sure Jesse Eisenberg’s acting in THE SOCIAL NETWORK seemed great but I’m going to hold off judgement until he plays a loveable pirate or gunslinger. Maybe I’ll let him slide with an 18th century English nobleman as long as he isn’t clever and arrogant.”

  52. I think when most people say someone is a bad actor, they really mean “limited”. Lots of actors can really only do a couple things well, and seem out of their depth whenever they try anything else. Sometimes this is just a type of acting, or a kind of character. Sometimes its even something like talking. Some actors just shouldn’t talk, but are very good at getting things across with body language and facial expressions. I will admit, I think Gina sounds weird in this trailer. But her angry face and they way she moves makes her look really scary and badass.

  53. And then i took so long to post that someone else made the same point i was making. Good on you, Jake.

  54. you wanna know what real bad acting is? watch Troll 2 or The Room, now THAT’S bad acting (ahahaha, what a story mark!)

    anyway how awesome would it be if at the end Gina Carano went Rambo and fought shirtless except with real boobs instead of man boobs?

  55. Jareth Cutestory

    July 23rd, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    Not only was Jennifer Lopez good in OUT OF SIGHT, but she was badass too. I think we all know how difficult it is to achieve badassness in this day and age, to say nothing of sustaining it.

    I just don’t get how this film has had so much difficulty getting to the screen. Based on the production history, I was expecting it to be one of Soderbergh’s choppy, hand-held digital type films with a washed-out palette and uneven performances like FULL FRONTAL. But that trailer looks gorgeous. And it has Michael Douglas looking all credible like he hasn’t since the 1990s, and Banderas looking sexy like ECKS VS SEVER never happened. And a bunch of young guys that the kids all like these days. And maybe Ewen McGregor will actually be good in a film for the first time since TRAINSPOTTING; at least nothing in the trailer indicated that he might suck.

    Why weren’t studios lining up to release this thing? SALT made money and this looks way better. If LA FEMME NIKITA had ever bothered to go away at some point in the last 25 years, this would be the trailer that would bring back the enthusiasm for the concept big time.

  56. I have to agree about the stiff line reading by Carano. I had no idea she was a real fighter until I saw the trailer the other day. The site it was posted didn’t mention she was a fighter but said it was her first movie. Once I looked her up it made sense why she felt a little off compared to the rest of the cast. I like Soderbergh but this looks like a straight to video movie with a better cast. Even the trailer reminds me of those straight to dvd movies where they would show all the faded stars who were “co-starring”. You would only later find out that the “co-stars” were only in the movie for a grand total of 5-10 minutes.

  57. Jareth Cutestory

    July 23rd, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    I’m inclined to think that if someone watches that trailer, and gets the feeling that they’re watching a straight-to-video trailer, it was intentional on Soderbergh’s part. The guy is just too talented, even when working with micro-budgets, to let the film get away from him.

  58. Vern, I’m not saying this won’t be good. It’s just that past experiences with female action movies (which have often not been good) made me a little skeptical, thus limiting my excitement for new entries in the genre. Looking at the people behind Haywire this looks to have a better chance at being good than say, Resident Evil Part 17, but the trailer didn’t do much for me.

    If it turns out to be good of course I’ll be as happy as any of you, God knows we need more great action films, female or otherwise.

  59. I have never been impressed by J.Lo in any movie. Not even OUT OF SIGHT. And that was her best movie. I don´t think she´s a great singer either, in fact I think she sucks. But that may be just a matter of personal preference. That fuckin “Pitbull-Lambada” is just so terrible for my ears, I´d rather listen to hiphop for five hours straight that lsuten to her singing. And I hate hiphop.

  60. Anyone ever listen to the Limey commentary with Soderbergh and Dobbs? It’s hilarious, insightful and, most importantly, totally and unflinchingly honest about the compromises and hang-ups that beset even the most well-planned shoots. Especially funny is that, even though Soderbergh filmed the movie largely word-for-word as Dobbs wrote, Dobbs WILL NOT stop bitching about the tiny moments and scens that he changed up, or didn’t film exactly as Dobbs wrote them. By the end of the commentary I was torn between wanting to pat Dobbs on the back for being so unerring in his vision, and wanting to pubch him in the face for being a whiny bitch.

  61. Mike A.- We need more GOOD action movies, female or otherwise. Shit, at this point we need more PASSABLE action movies.

  62. Jareth, do you really think that Ewan McGregor has not been good in anything since TRAINSPOTTING? If so, I have to applaud your attempt to fill the crazy opinion void left now that Paul seems to have stopped posting.

  63. Jareth Cutestory

    July 23rd, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Jake: McGregor hasn’t impressed me in anything I’ve seen him in after TRAINSPOTTING, but I think he was okay in MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS and pretty good in the one where he drove his motorcycle around. I don’t think he’s a bad actor, but I don’t find him particularly convincing, especially in demanding stuff, like that last Polanksi film or Greenaway’s PILLOW BOOK. I think he does better in whimsical stuff like BIG FISH.

    I could only hope to aspire to Paul’s level of wacky. I haven’t even seen JUGGERNAUT.

  64. Looks awesome. Nice touch that they weren’t afraid to show HER getting hit too. She gets a coffee cup to the face, and non-sexually donkey punched…
    “That trailer could be great if they had just taken out the damn voiceover guy. He makes it seem as if the film is going straight to video. ”
    I was going to ask when was the last time you saw a trailer for a theatrical movie that had a non-ironic/comedic voiceover that wasn’t dialogue from a character in the movie?

  65. I just watched Broken Arrow a couple of days ago and I found Travolta’s performance pretty entertaing. Sure, it is over the top, but the way he delivers his lines I think it is great. I enjoyed it very much. Also, Broken Arrow is one of the most entertaining action movies of the ’90s.

    And as for the Haywire-trailer, can’t wait for this flick.

  66. I think this is going to really kick ass. I just hope they’ve kept a couple of set-pieces out of the trailer for us to discover when we turn up to watch the film. As for other movies with kick-ass female protagonists, there’s also Columbiana on the way don’t forget. Also, Zoe Bell in Angel of Death is worth checking out. Roger Yuan does a great job with the fight scenes in that.

  67. I watch alot of DTV action movies. I’ve chronicled how they’ve been getting better over the years. I don’t think that looks like a DTV action movie at all. Not the cinematography, the editing, the music, the acting, the action, the dialogue. The only thing the same is the guy doing the narration, but I give them props for using him. I like that guy.

    As far as good Ewan Macgregor performances I’d like to put in a word for I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS. I was surprised how good he was as just this naive, sweet guy that Jim Carrey’s sociopath obsessed over. There’s a weirdly hilarious part where a guy goes to Ewan’s cell to tell him his former lover is dying, and Ewan sees that he looks upset and asks him if he wants a cracker. I don’t know, I guess you had to be there.

  68. Ok, I’m back from the dead, not sure for how long, but mainly to comment on this, “Sucker Punch”, and “13 Assassins” (which finally came to the UK arts cinemas – YES!)

    And as for my craziness – I might have been acting like an asshole at times (well ok, most of the time at the end) but you guys gotta admit you were acting pretty damn smug yourselves on occasions. I guess what I’m saying is occasionally it’s good if someone comes in with a dissenting opinion, but it doesn’t do any good if it’s put down to “craziness”. Put it down to my being British if you like. We’re all insane over here anyway.

    Majestyk: “I do remember that shot. A great physical acting performance from Sam Rockwell. That was the shot where I started to notice that guy.”

    Yeah, that was EXACTLY my experience too. Anybody else find it weird that the best thing about both Charlie’s Angels movies are the male villains? (Nope, Demi Moore doesn’t count. I’m not that cruel.)

    As for this trailer – I’m half-convinced. I can see, though, why people are complaining about Carano’s line readings. They’re not what I’d call animated, for the most part. If you are going to do “stoic” then you have to be able to enunciate in a way that lends emotional weight to whatever you’re saying, and I’m not sure Carano pulls that off.

    I gotta say though, despite the usual barrage of action-movie cliches that are mandatory in any movie trailer nowadays (car doing a 180-degree spin anybody?) I was pretty impressed with this one. I’ve been somewhat harsh on Soderburgh but I don’t think he’s ever made a really bad film, and I don’t see this becoming his first one. The first thing that struck me was that the cinematography and action direction that we saw was great. Although this shouldn’t surprise me – practically every single one of my favorite action films was directed by somebody who doesn’t specialise in that genre. (“Enter the Dragon” for example.)

  69. Paul: Good to have you back. I was beginning to think we’d scared you off with our cruel displays of sense.

    It’s good to see that your time away hasn’t mellowed you. I’m just curious how you could consider Robert Clouse as a director who doesn’t specialize in action. At least 75% of his filmography consists of kung fu movies. He directed two Bruce Lee movies, a Jackie Chan movie, two Cynthia Rothrock movies, two Jim Kelly movies, a Bolo Yeung movie, and fucking GYMKATA. He made more action movies than John McTiernan and James Cameron combined. If he wasn’t an action specialist I don’t know who is.

    In related news, did you guys know that he was deaf? Which is especially strange considering that his movies usually had awesome scores. I guess he just took his collaborators’ word for it?

  70. You’re right. What movie was I thinking of then?

    Ugh, never mind…

  71. “I watch alot of DTV action movies. I’ve chronicled how they’ve been getting better over the years. I don’t think that looks like a DTV action movie at all. Not the cinematography, the editing, the music, the acting, the action, the dialogue. The only thing the same is the guy doing the narration, but I give them props for using him. I like that guy.”

    I dunno, Vern. It definitely looks to be a cut above your average DTV action movie, but it does still look like something made in that tradition. Brought to mind a trailer for this Dolph movie I viewed recently:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWKnJcotkG0

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m super excited for Haywire for all the reasons you’ve mentioned. It feels to me like Soderbergh decided he wanted to do his own spin on a straight to video action movie, just like when he did his own version of a lifetime movie in Erin Brockovich.

    Ewan was surprisingly good and sweet in Philip Morris. That was a pretty underrated movie, I thought.

  72. The only real problem I have with the film from what the trailer shows is the Pretty-Boy-Tagalong-Bystander-Sure-To-Be-Love-Interest-By-The-End-Of-Movie character guy. Does the film really NEED him? And if you’re going to have a character like that, why not have someone who seems like a totally bland non-name white boy? Mix it up a bit!

  73. ^why NOT have someone who etc.

  74. ^why not have someone who DOESN’T seem like etc.
    Jeez.

  75. Michael Jai White just revealed he’ll be doing BLOND AND BONE 2 in two months on his twitter account.

    Let’s hope its true.

  76. Jareth Cutestory

    July 24th, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    She ruled the streets with fear and violence. Until one man stepped up to take her down.

    Reese Witherspoon vs. Michael Jai White in BLONDE & BONE: ILLEGALLY BLONDE.

    “I do not approve of the company you keep, Mr. Bone.”

    “Me neither.”

    If she had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like him upon her.

  77. Sounds like the porno version, but it would have to be a porno from the eighties or something because a modern porn version of Blood and Bone would just be called This Ain’t Blood and Bone: A XXX Porn Parody. And I would probably buy it anyway.

    Still, Blood and Bone 2! I’m going to watch the shit out of that.

  78. Hopefully it’ll incorporate flashbacks involving him and his identical twin kicking ass.

  79. Felix – when did he say that? I don’t see it, I checked. But I did find him saying he’s doing another movie with Scott Adkins, that’s good news.

  80. Hell fucking yes this movie looks bad ass. I have been waiting years for something like this. Soderberg is easily one of our greatest living directors.

  81. The Blood and Bone announcement is hard to spot because it’s a response to a guy who he didn’t RT, but the guy asked “is there gonna be a Blood N’ Bone sequel? cause that movie was tuff!” and MJW’s response was “Yeah Brah! I scheduled to start filming it in 2 months.”

    That was posted last month, which would mean it’s scheduled for next month, which is awesome.

  82. Has anybody seen the trailer for Soderberg’s next released film, Contagion? It’s his take on the Irwin Allen disaster flick. What a cool directer Soderburgh is. Too bad I can’t spell his last name right and I’m too lazy to scroll up. :)

  83. Robert Clouse is a weird case, he’s technically an action specialist I guess, but seemed to show no real talent for them. I don’t think anyone would think he’s the guy who made Bruce Lee look good, and he made Jackie Chan look terrible. And then it’s b-movies and Gymkata.

    I suppose juuust because he directed Enter the Dragon he kept getting gigs based off of that, regardless of talent.

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