What an odd little movie...

I wanted to write "the same", but I simply agree 100% with you.

I also want to hate it, its clear that Soderbergh overstylished it, made it slow on purpose, added his unusual filming angles without any reason and prolonged lots of scenes (the roof ones or the one where she runs behind the runner) just for the sake of it. He had nothing else to tell.

Then he called up some friends to play characters that are so simple cut out that you ask why those heavy hitters are even there besides marketing.

Yeah, the music was just over the top, loud, to push scenes like putting travel stuff on a hotel bed. Obnoxious is the right for that. Or arrogance

I liked Gina a lot in this, but I wished they had better material. And you are right: I don't know who the audience is. I watched it because of Gina and Soderbergh, but thats far in film geek territory.

I don't get the harsh 5,4. I guess its because many men simply dislike her kicking so much butt successfully. I give it a strong 6.2-6.4. I mean, some latest Van Damme/Steven Segals poop gets easily a 6.x, this is ridiculous.

I still don't know if I like the movie, or its rather that I like Soderbergh to have the guts/"carefree" mentality to shoot something like this.

It's basically a vanity project, I think. And I don't mean anything negative by that.

Merriam-Webster: Vanity [adjective]: 2) of, relating to, or being a showcase for a usually famous performer or artist who is often also the project's creator or driving force, <write, direct, and star in a vanity film>.

In this case I think Soderbergh was just impressed with her, and decided he wanted to build a film around her. The budget is listed as only $23m (only meaning for Hollywood); he got some local funding or incentives to shoot in Ireland, and gathered together a bunch of heavy-hitter actor buddies to do it for cheap, obviously as a favor.

Nobody had any illusions that they were gonna remake Cleopatra here. They were just out to have a good time with it.

The soundtrack was composed by David Holmes, also Irish (maybe that funding, again?). I think the musical style was obviously a conscious choice to go against the typical suspense/thriller music of other films in this genre. This might be too big a leap here, but the fact that they give a nod to 1975's Three Days of the Condor (see the note in the 'Trivia' section) says a lot, in my opinion. Condor features a very 70s, very funky/jazzy score by Dave Grusin. I think that's what they were going for here as well. I really love the music and think it works, but others may disagree. (If you want, you can hear Grusin's music from Condor here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSo76Z26_1I.)

I think the most curious thing about this whole vanity project was the choice to build it around non-actress Gina Carano. I did like her, in spite of everything, but her limitations are all the more obvious when Soderbergh puts her in a room with talent like Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Michael Douglas. If this film had been built around a known female action star like Halle Berry, Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie or Uma Thurman, we probably wouldn't be scratching our heads about it. But if they had cast a big-name star, they probably wouldn't have been able to do it for such a small budget, and they wouldn't have felt as free to break the rules of the genre -- like with the music, the pacing, the 'artistic' shots, etc.

Agreed. I wa
s left feeling short changed by a trusted director. However, left in the dark afterwards, I felt it sliding around inside my brain like jazz.