Friday Flicks: Will Haywire Make An Action Star Out of Gina Carano?

Grab some popcorn! NewsFeed's Glen Levy brings you the movies you should check out (or avoid) this weekend.

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Haywire

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Tagline: They Left Her No Choice

“Oh, you shouldn’t think of her as a woman,” says Ewan McGregor’s character, Kenneth, about the frightening Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) in Stephen Soderbergh’s pulpy action flick Haywire. “That would be a mistake.” Memo to Kenneth: that train has long since left the station.

Gina Carano might not know much about acting, but she sure can kick butt. The real-life MMA (mixed martial arts) star was cast by the prolific Soderbergh, following on from his hiring adult film actress Sasha Grey as the lead in 2009’s The Girlfriend Experience. Carano’s Kane doesn’t make for ideal girlfriend material, considering that she’s a kind of international troubleshooter, who takes care of business while her employers sensibly look the other way. It’s not quite the oldest profession in the book, but it comes pretty close.

The opening scene sets the tone (you can watch it here on TIME’s entertainment site) and the movie never once lets up, with the action sequences taking in the likes of Barcelona and Dublin, all spectacular in their own cleverly choreographed way. In many a director’s hands, Haywire would have lived up to its title, becoming an unseemly mess, but the veteran filmmaker celebrates making his 25th film (in just 22 years!) by surrounding the rookie Carano with a stellar cast including McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton and Antonio Banderas. And his favorite composer and cameraman, David Holmes and Peter Andrews, are on hand to lend their ears and eyes to the sumptuous sounds and sights.

What’s not to like? “A fresh, muscular payback movie shot through with Soderbergh’s mischievous indie-spirit,” concludes Empire. “The script makes no attempt to assert its plausibility or realism; it is, instead, refreshingly frank about what it is, a simple, workable framework for the melees and mayhem,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.

TIME’s Richard Corliss is a rare dissenter: “Carano is her own best stuntwoman, but in the dialogue scenes she’s all kick and no charisma.” Nevertheless, you’ll still come away thinking about her and whether that real-life nickname of “Conviction” holds up. She might just be a veritable Jane Bond in waiting. Keep your wits about you, 007.

MORE: TIME’s full review of Haywire

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