Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors and while I may not love all of his films, I can’t deny that they all showcase an excellent handle on visuals, story and characters. Among the things that I enjoy about him is the way he’ll take an untrained performer and cater a film to that particular person’s strengths. With The Girlfriend Experience he took pornstar Sasha Grey and assembled a very interesting, dynamic and original film. He brought forth an engaging performance from Grey and kick started her acting career. Now with Haywire, he takes martial arts fighter star Gina Carano and assembles one of the coolest action films in years.

In Haywire, Gina Carano plays Mallory a former Navy agent who now works for a private company that does various top secret missions. After a successful mission in Barcelona in which she and Aaron (Channing Tatum) extracted a hostage and delivered him safely to Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas),  Mallory’s supervisor, Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), gives her another job in Dublin. In this last job things go haywire and Mallory finds herself set-up and running from the people that were supposedly on her side.

The first thing that really struck me about Haywire was the action scenes. We are introduced to Carano and Tatum in a fist fight that is as unexpected as it is badass, as intense as it is awesome and works perfectly as a set-up of how things will unfold. I think this is the first time Soderbergh has directed an action film but judging by the action scenes it feels like he has been doing them for ages. He keeps the camera on the action and doesn’t over edit the fights. We can appreciate the intricate and exciting choreography, and they all have a palpable sense of danger and feel realistic.

Another element that makes the action here feel unique and real is how Soderbergh shows the fullness of the action. This is especially notable during the escape sequences that last for a long time providing a real sense of how long it really takes for someone to run away from the police or bad guys. During the Dublin mission, Mallory is attempting to escape and she goes through various rooftops and buildings and that whole sequence is simply amazing. The cinematography is beautiful, the score pumps up the adrenaline and Carano handles herself like a prime action star should.

Gina Carano also delivers a surprisingly engaging and wonderful performance. First of all, she exudes badassery from her very presence and manages to convey vulnerability and betrayal during the quiet moments. Physically she is beautiful and a nice change from the overly skinny action starlets we’re used to. Furthermore, because of the way she looks her fights are more believable and you can buy her beating the shit out of Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender. I hope she and Soderbergh team up once again for another action-driven flick.

The supporting cast is not only impressive but also brilliant. Each name is greater than the next and all of them manage to be memorable and cool. Much to my surprise, the most memorable one is Channing Tatum who for the first time delivers an actually good performance. It’s true what they say, a brilliant director can bring out the absolute best of even the most untrained actors. This gives me hope that their next team-up, Magic Mike, will deliver the goods from the acting department. Fassbender is the other notable standout as an assassin who really kicks the shit out of Carano.

Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is easily one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen so far in 2012. From a visual standpoint the film delivers all that you would expect from a Soderbergh film. The acting is great all around and Gina Carano delivers a very promising and badass performance. My only problem is that Haywire is a bit longer than it probably should have been, but the story has enough intrigue to keep you engaged. Furthermore, with the exciting, intense and extremely amazing action scenes you’ll easily be able to forget about time and so forth. Soderbergh has deliver another outstanding film that truly deserves to been seen and receive much more attention. Go watch it.

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In Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, we are taken around the globe as a new, fatal and highly contagious disease ravages the whole population. While the film is an ensemble piece, the focus shifts between four primary characters. First is Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) whose life turns upside down as his wife, Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), is the first to succumb and die of the disease in America. Second is CDC Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) who sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) out on the field and is also attempting to find a vaccine/cure for this disease. Then we have Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) who is send to Hong Kong to investigate the source of the disease since Beth Emhoff appears to have contracted it on her latest trip there. And finally there is Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) a journalist free-lancer who attempts to tell the world the reality of this disease, which is apparently being hidden by the CDC.

With Contagion Steven Soderbergh proves yet again what an absolutely brilliant director he is. He achieves such a great balance in the film that it all just glides effortlessly between the various characters, scenarios and issues. The film is brilliantly paced and there is never a moment where things feel disjointed or out of place, every scene has a purpose whether it is to instruct us about the disease or to show us the lengths humans will go to survive. Furthermore, Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns don’t dumb down the film at any point and aren’t afraid to throw terms and concepts that people aren’t familiar with. They treat the audience intelligently and expect us to keep up with them, and fortunately enough there is never a moment where you don’t know what is going on. Contagion has a lot of exposition, which makes sense considering the subject manner and that exposition actually not only helps the audience, but makes things much more exciting.

The film is also highly realistic in its portrayal of our world trying to deal with a new disease. Soderbergh doesn’t over-sensationalize the proceedings, which actually works in its favor because it is the realism of this whole film that makes it so effectively scary. There are naturally caused fatal diseases in this world and every time one of them surfaces things do get crazy, like for example when the H1M1 crisis happened. But what Soderbergh succeeds in the most is the whole look of the film and it will be a crime if he doesn’t get a nomination for Best Cinematography. I don’t know if it was the theater I saw it in, but Contagion is easily the best looking film I have seen so far this year. The blu-ray-like quality of the picture, the lighting and composition of the scenes is pure perfection. I love how the camera itself is a character, it guides you, suggests different things and it is always positioned in a way that you can grasp every single thing that is happening.

Then we also have the cast of the film, which is what will primarily draw audiences into watching the film. The actors and actresses I noted at the beginning aren’t even a quarter of the cast of this film. As the film glides through its different stories we get some highly recognized actors like Brian Cranston to rising stars like John Hawkes to fairly unknowns such as Jennifer Ehle. Every single cast member shines in their respective role and deliver an effective and at times heart-breaking performance. What really great is that thanks to high volume of characters and stories, people will connect more with some characters than others. For me the standouts were Jude Law, who steals every scene he’s in, and Matt Damon, whose story is the most tragic and compelling one. Contagion needs to get a nomination for Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards next year and as of now, it will win it.

Just as it was the case with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Cliff Martinez assembles another brilliant score for Contagion. The score is easily one of the films greatest strength’s as it manages to achieve a variety of moods and feelings. Depending on the scene it can be really frightening, but then it also adds layers of suspense and excitement to the scenes. Watching the film one also gets the sense that Soderbergh knows how brilliant the score is, because he over-imposes it during many sequences most notably the films opening sequence around the world. Martinez creates a score that perfectly blends with Soderbergh visuals and they complement each other beautifully, which then yields marvelous results. I really hope Martinez gets some recognition at the Oscars for both his brilliant score for Drive and Contagion, as they are both among the best score of 2011 so far. But either, you should add them to your iTunes as soon as possible.

While I was waiting for Contagion to start I had this feeling that I would leave the theater really loving this film and I did, especially because it surpassed all of my expectations. Contagion is a first-class thriller with a more than impeccable and outstanding cast. The film’s realism will at times scare the hell out of you and make you a bit self-conscious, because of the way it shows how bacteria and diseases get transmitted between humans. Very rarely do we get a film that portrays an end of the world scenario in a realistic manner, and more filmmakers should take into account that realism is much more effective. But the real outstanding aspect of Contagion is Steven Soderbergh. He succeeds in every single aspect of the film from his impeccable and highly balanced direction to his beautifully and Oscar-worthy cinematography. Contagion easily is one of the best films of 2011.

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