Movies & Booze
Movies Reviews – 20th January 2011
With thanks to O’Brien’s Wines
Esther McCarthy from the Sunday World
Haywire (15A) ****
Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor.
DUBLIN HAS never looked so sexy on the big screen as it does in Haywire, director Steven Soderbergh’s enjoyable spy thriller that’s largely set in the Capital.
Newcomer Gina Carano is pretty sexy as well. A mixed martial arts fighter with limited acting experience, Carano is great here as a spy who (literally) kicks ass when those she trusts betray her.
It’s not the most original movie you’ll ever see and there’s little going on story wise that we haven’t seen in a spy thriller before. The real pleasure here how it’s played out by an on-form Soderbergh, aided and abetted by an A-list cast.
Interestingly, the big names are in largely supporting roles while the director has looked outside the usual movie pool for his leading lady in what proves to be a smart piece of casting.
As a woman who sets out to outfox those who’ve betrayed her, Cerano uses her fighting skills to maximum and amusing effect (tackling one character by crushing him between her legs). She makes for a strong central character and carries what is a very entertaining film.
Filmed in Dublin last year and with the scenes in the city taking up about half of the movie, Carano plays Mallory Kane, a US covert ops specialist who is sent on an apparently straightforward mission to Dublin.
Told by one of her colleagues (McGregor) that little is expected of her other to be arm candy for a fellow spy (Fassbender), Mallory jets to the city, only to discover that she has been implicated in a previous mission that has gone wrong and those who supported her now want her dead.
Flitting between the US, Dublin and Barcelona, Mallory goes on the run - and uses her fight training to defy anybody who gets in her way - and she sets out to clear her name and find out who double crossed her.
Other characters include Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas) a Spanish official who set up the deal with one of Mallory’s superiors, Kenneth (Michael Douglas), and Channing Tatum as one of her former team members.
Irish viewers will particularly enjoy two central action scenes. There’s a lengthy physical battle in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel, where one of the bedrooms gets utterly thrashed.
You can also see the female lead embark in a game of cat and mouse along the city centre, culminating in a thrilling rooftop chase across the north city.
To Soderbergh’s credit, the chase makes complete sense continuity wise and refreshingly there isn’t an Irish movie stereotype to be seen. Haywire is not exactly original in story but it sure is a lot of fun - and Carano hangs tough as the ‘don’t mess with me’ lead.
J Edgar (12A) ***
Leo Di Caprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench.
IT TAKES a director with the skill of Clint Eastwood and an actor with the talent of Leo Di Caprio to have the brawn to tackle the story of John Edgar Hoover.
The man who reigned as boss of the FBI for almost four decades was a divisive figure who make a career of investigating other people’s lives but liked to keep his own under wraps.
But while Leo does a decent job of bringing the character to life in a role he was criticised for when he was originally cast, the movie fares less well.
It’s not that it’s a bad film - this is Eastwood, after all. But the movie suffers the many pitfalls you can encounter when trying to encapsulate the life of such a big figure.
Moving back and forth between Hoover’s latter years, his first days on the job and the heyday in which he became a leading figure in US law enforcement, the movie has to also tackle the thorny issue of the lawman’s sexuality.
This is does with both honesty and sensitivity, charting his relationship with his colleague Clyde Tolson (Hammer) but also depicting what a taboo it would have been.
It also touches on several of Hoover’s ‘greatest hits’ including the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case and the development of forensic research.
Ulimately, though, it struggles to veer out of TV movie territory, trying to cover too much in a 137 minute running time, yet lacking the focus to truly engage the audience.
Eastwood doesn’t shy away from the trickier elements of the story and Di Caprio puts in a solid performance, but this biopic, while interesting, lacks the verve you’d expect from those involved.
