Framed protagonists boost diverting actioners

IN Steven Soderberg’s latest thriller, “Haywire,” Gina Carano’s lead character is a young but vastly experienced secret agent who brilliantly executes the rescue of a Chinese “dissident” being held hostage in Barcelona. Imagine her shock, therefore, when on another top-secret mission, she discovers his dead body—in Ireland! What is going on here?

It turns out that Carano’s character has been deceived—by her own superiors! She belatedly discovers that the dissident wasn’t being held hostage, he was being kept in a safehouse for his own protection against evil forces bent on eliminating him—who turn out to be playing furtive footsies with her boss!

She thus realizes that she’s been sent to Ireland in order to assure her own “elimination,” so the nefarious plot’s secret is buried with her. She has to beat her assassin to the punch and draw to save her life and avenge herself against the traitors who pretend to be looking out for her welfare.

To give the gripping events that follow an ironic context, Carano’s dad is revealed to be a popular writer of espionage novels. He’s a master of his craft—but, when it comes to protecting his daughter in real life, he’s woefully inept.

Also ironic is the fact that one of her principal nemeses is her ex-lover. So, she avenges herself on him with particular fervor, timing her final assault to the incoming tide at a beach, where one of his ankles is trapped between two rocks, and he ends up dying, not from a hail of bitter-sweetly vengeful bullets—but from drowning.

Thus does Soderberg turn the usual thriller-chiller on its head and make his unique mark on the genre, one ironic twist after another.

Aside from his brilliantly conceived and executed chase and action scenes, the filmmaker is deeply and most rewardingly interested in his characters from a psychological point of view, sharing valuable insights with viewers on what makes some heroes turn out to be heels—and vice versa.

‘Man On A Ledge’

Contrastingly, “Man On A Ledge” is more interested in the motivations of a bad cop allegedly gone wrong, and in fact sent to jail for his “sins.” It turns out that the disgraced lawman (Sam Worthington) was framed—and the only way he can prove his innocence and put the powerful man who tricked him behind bars is to stage a threatened “suicide” leap from a tall building near his nemesis’ headquarters.

It’s all in-your-face melodramatics mixed with deft physical action, but it’s generally effective—until the film’s makers get carried away and come up with a big, slam-bang finale that’s too lush and over-the-top to be taken seriously, even by undemanding fans of disposable thrillers and chillers like this one.

Still, what goes on before is quite diverting, especially the complicated attempts of the ex-cop’s brother and his girlfriend to help him get the goods on his all-powerful antagonist, so the film still ends up as view-worthy.