To say that Haywire is the Gina Carano show is an understatement. She is the only reason to see the film. I can only hope Hollywood takes notice and actually gives her one of these big budget action film leads that have been going to tiny waifs like Angelina Jolie and Zoe Saldana. MMA fans know who Gina Carano is. She's the undefeated middleweight champion of the octagon. She wins her matches by getting her opponents to tap out. Frankly, it looks like every action scene in Haywire was choreographed so she could do more and more elaborate submission holds. From the highly effective arm bar to a moment where her legs are wrapped around someone's neck while she yanks on her legsto nearly pop the guy's head off, these MMA moves she's known for worked beautifully on film.
I first noticed Carano on the new American Gladiators. She was the reason to watch the show. As Crush, she rarely lost an event.
Her strength was an event called Earthquake. This was a grappling competition on a tilting platform where the loser was the participant who fell off first. Suspended MMA without the kicks? How could she possibly lose?
Actually, calling that event her strength was short sighted. Any time she got to touch the contestants, she won. Period. The only times she lost were when she broke some stupid rule about hand position. Just look for yourself.
Ok, technically she did curb-stomp that other contestant in the chest to take the wind out of her and knock her off the platform. But it was all in good fun. Or it was an attempt to get screentime for bigger and better things.
Judging by her MMA record and dynamic personality, Gina Carano would seem like a natural choice to try and develop into an action performer. Combined with her good looks and name recognition, it should come as no surprise that her first wide release film features her in a starring role (and her face and body all over the marketing material).
She's clearly untrained as an actress. This works to her advantage as often as it comes across poorly. Frankly, I blame the screenplay for the bad moments as she developed a good bit of nuance and style when left to everyday conversation and movement when not fighting.
Gina Carano has potential. She needs training to make a real stab at acting as not every film role will be tough as nails trained fighter chick fighting and acting tough. Haywire's few good moments come courtesy of her physicality and the right project could make her a big action star.
Haywire is not that project.
Full review here.
Thoughts? Love to hear them.
