AFI Festival ‘Haywire’ screening and star panel: videos, pics and reviews

The AFI fest’s secret screening took place yesterday and the film was none other than ‘Haywire’. It’s star, new action heroine Gina Carano, director Steven Soderbergh, noted actors Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender were the special guests on hand.

“…A handsome, black-haired hardbody who wears an evening dress as easily as she does a hoodie, Carano exudes the sort of self-confidence and physical wherewithal that leaves no doubt she can prevail in any situation…In this, Haywire entirely and winningly succeeds...The script makes no attempt to assert its plausibility or realism; it is, instead, refreshingly frank about what it is, a simple, workable framework for the melees and mayhem…The fine use of locations, elegantly mobile shooting style and hair-trigger editing are all in line with what one expects from Soderbergh…The director shrewdly determined what she could and perhaps couldn’t do, and she delivered with a turn that makes other actresses who have attempted such roles, no matter how toned and buff they became, look like pretenders.” – Todd McCarthy (HollywoodReporter.com)

                       (credit: JChap2, Lara, GGB, O_O, & swinjen)

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“…Haywire will confuse and stultify a generation of action film fans raised on Michael Bay and Brett Ratner‘s glossy, shallow claptrap and confused into thinking that quick cutting is actual excitement and velocity. In short, if you are not a horrible snob or a hateful dullard, odds are that “Haywire” will make the pinball machine in your head go “Tilt.”…Carano’s screen presence evokes nothing less than ‘70s Pam Grier—where the effect is not that of an actor giving a natural and charismatic performance in a film, but, rather, a natural and charismatic person acting in a film. Carano’s line readings are occasionally atonal and flat, but that’s more than compensated for in the scenes where her personality and poise shine through…a climactic fight under the morning sun on the beachside shore feels like someone dropped a Donnie Yen battle into a Michelangelo Antonioni art film. The script, by Lem Dobbs, knows that it is not reinventing chess but, rather, letting a grand master play a different set of openings and gambits in pursuit of victory…“Haywire” is an action film that tries to convey the very real pleasure of watching an action hero actually think about what they’re doing, cool reptile reason in the hot-blooded moment…” – James Rocchi (ThePlayList.com)

           “…Breathtakingly executed by Carano and the rest of the cast, these action scenes proudly fly in the face of the CG-heavy sequences we’ve come to expect from other modern-day action films. As a result, there’s a legitimately breathless thrill to watching the balletic, feverish movements…And even though Carano doesn’t have much acting experience, she proves to be a likable, sexy tomboy warrior as the never-phased Mallory. The role doesn’t require much emoting, but she more than captures the character’s pithy, steely resourcefulness…Nearly every shot in Haywire is a beauty, with a game cast (that also features Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton) easily getting on Soderbergh’s effortless-cool wavelength. This film may be nothing but shallow pleasures, but Soderbergh makes sure there are plenty of them.” -Tim Grierson (screendaily.com)