Haywire

I don't think a movie like Haywire is meant to stay in your head when the lights come up and the credits roll, after all its plot is necessarily what I call a well thought out one. Director Steven Soderbergh knows that, his cast knows that and I sure as hell hope his audience knows that. Listen, you won't find a single plot-related coherence in this cross-cutting, globe trotting, spectacularly stylish CIA agent gone-rogue movie. Gina Carano, an actual mixed martial arts fighter, is perfectly cast in the role of the said agent. Which is why the action scenes are so briskly paced and furiously lewd and -yes- even realistically made. It's quite clear Carano did her own stunts. Soderbergh knows he's got one hell of a fireball fighter here and he takes advantage of her talents every step of the way. Carano is so fiercely intense that she will likely get another chance in another movie very soon, it's a star making performance which leaves an impeccable impression on the viewer when the movie is done. The same can't always be said about the movie, its plot is so over-cooked and confusing that one might wonder why it had to be done this way. The screenplay by Len Dobbs tries too hard to stuff in plot twists and plot points, I felt suffocated by film's end. Dobbs might learn a thing or two next time with his infusion of filler that almost ends up being killer to the film's momentum. Too bad, because some scenes really stuck in my head and Sodebergh's direction is as assured as his last effort Contagion. Try to turn away when Carano's character goes through a chase scene jumping from one roof top to the other, it's a chase that lasts close to 20 minutes and shows the potential Haywire truly had before it melted away in a speck of dust.