There is no getting around the fact that plot takes a back seat in Haywire, an action flick centered on MMA fighter Gina Carano. That’s not to say it’s a bad movie, not at all, but like many great action films, the fight scenes and are front and center and the plot is simply written around them. The fact that Stephen Soderbergh directed this one, you can be certain that there is enough there to tell a decent story.
Carano plays Mallory Kane, a black-ops agent for a government security contractor. She’s framed for a client’s death and is then hunted by her employers (including Channing Tatum and Ewan McGregor). Soderbergh also calls in some favors and gets some great cameos from Antonio Banderas, Bill Pullman and Michael Douglas.
Clocking in at just 93 minutes, Haywire is trimmed of all fat. Add in some pithy dialogue and great choreographed fights and you’re left with a pretty damn good action flick.
Haywire/93 mins./Lionsgate/2012