This is the film debut of Gina Carano, a fantastic mixed-martial art's fighter from Strikeforce (the top womens MMA promotion in the US). Now I know this lady isn't a classically trained actress but she has the fighting background that should have us convinced that she's the real deal. All to often I see action films that have waifs unconvincingly trying to pull off some hard hitting fight scenes (think of a very petite Zoe Saldana fighting the bulky Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the film The Losers). So it was a breath of fresh air to see Carano cast as the former marine turned mercenary for hire. Her MMA background was perfect for this role. And it showed.
There are no over-the-top back flips or a heavy reliance on weaponry in this film. Nor is there a trace of pointless CGI and wire-work. Instead you see Carano pull of fluid arm bars, stunning chokes and terrific wall jumps with finesse that only a former middleweight champion would possess.
However I start to wonder if Soderbergh could've have just hired any other female MMA fighter for the role as her fighting may very well be top notch, but her acting not so much. You see there is no stunt so real, no storyline so gripping that can mask acting so bad. And Carano's was so lacking that I kinda yearned for the waifs that I had earlier laughed off as unconvincing.
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| Gina Carano attempts to get a refund from Ewan McGregor for paying to see Star Wars II: Attack of The Clones |
I will never really know how bad Carano's acting is because Soderbergh cleverly (or not-so in this case) tried to cover the tracks. Firstly he edited her voice. Carano has admitted her voice was altered so that the audience would differentiate her from her character. Stop me if I'm wrong but isn't that the whole point of acting, to convince someone wholeheartedly that the character you're personifying is anyone but you in reality? It seemed like a waste of his time given that Carano doesn't actually do much talking. Indeed she spends a large portion fighting but there was a seemingly endless chase scene that possibly went on for ten minutes. Then there was the the moment she took five minutes to reverse a car. Oh and jumping across buildings took another 10 minutes or so.
Normally I wouldn't complain about such time-wasting scenes but you must take into account that the film is 93 minutes long, so those scenes were dragged out for almost a third of the movie!
Aside from Carano's thespian efforts, this wasn't a bad film. Actually if Soderbergh had cast a different female lead (and possibly worked on a better script) I'm sure this could've been a lot better. The male ensemble really hold together the rest of the film. The parts set in Ireland were probably the best and I put that down to rising actor Michael Fassbender. It seems the man can't really do any wrong at the moment. The hotel fight scene that features in the trailer is the best and only because I was convinced that Fassbender really was going to come up trumps in the end. It also made the fight scene with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr & Mrs. Smith look very amateurish in comparison!
Directing wise, this reeks of Soderbergh. I don't mind films that are made be a director with a typical visual style. But the Ocean's Eleven style music really didn't fit in with this type of action thriller.
It's not the worst film out there but it's certainly not great. I would certainly like to see more female action heroes in the style of Carano, just not with her acting ability. But don't tell her I said that - I've seen how she takes down those that oppose her!
