• Steven Soderbergh knows how to do the sprawling ensemble film- Traffic his first (and best) foray in 2000 and the Ocean’s films that followed
  • Also a disaster film (which were also ensemble films) like the 1970’s Airport, Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Earthquake (some were good, some were meh)– there have been films like the popular Day After Tomorrow since of course
  • Soderbergh peppers the film with his trademark yellow-tint lighting (he’s his own DP under a pseudonym) – it isn’t jaw-droppingly gorgeous like some of his other films but certainly distinct and praiseworthy
Soderbergh peppers the film with his trademark yellow-tint lighting (he’s his own DP under a pseudonym) – it isn’t jaw-droppingly gorgeous like some of his other films but certainly distinct and praiseworthy
he pairs it with the mise-en-scene– he could have picked any color here– he went with yellow
  • Cliff Martinez’s score is very strong—adds to the sense of dread—he worked with Soderbergh on Traffic and others and then after this would do Drive, Spring Breakers
  • The talent assembled here for the cast is staggering- Damon/Jude Law/Paltrow from 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley– but Marion Cotillard- one of the best actresses of the decade (her section is actually pretty weak in this film though through no fault of her own), Laurence Fishburne who is ever reliable, Kate Winslet (another one of the generation’s best actors)
  • Short vignettes, watchable- I’ve seen it three times and could watch it again a month from now and enjoy it—titles and cities, a few time he flips them quickly for a montage but very rarely does one go on for very long
  • Jude Law is particularly good here- in his 12 Monkeys dystopia suit—the bad teeth and name (Alan Krumwiede)
  • Soderbergh works swiftly and has a massive filmography (16 archiveable films at the time I’m writing this and counting) – of his two releases in 2011 Haywire is the stronger of the two but they’re both very good
  • Ends with the ominous day 1
  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 2011