The casting of MMA fighter Gina Carano in Steven Soderbergh’s action-thriller Haywire could have been a gimmicky move, but much like the appearance of Sacha Grey in The Girlfriend Experience, this example of casting to type – or building a movie around one performer, as seems to be the case here – works well, with the neophyte actress more than holding her own in a film packed with big names. The end result is a tight, kick-ass spy movie with a slightly (and refreshingly) old-school feel.

Carano plays Mallory Kane, contract spy / black ops agent for the government who finds herself hunted after her shady boss and former boyfriend Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) betrays her, setting her up for a fall during a shady mission in Dublin. All this unfolds in flashback as she escapes a diner where a fellow agent (Channing Tatum) has tracked her to, allowing the film to open with a remarkably brutal fight scene, highlighting Carano’s MMA skills. These are given full reign later too, with a series a non-nonsense, no restraint scraps – some of the most remarkable male vs female punch-ups ever captured on film, with Carano taking a lot of punishment but winning out against the likes of Michael Fassbender as she tries to elude capture by the authorities while figuring out who was behind her betrayal, and why.

Slickly handled by Soderbergh, the film counters its slugfests with moments of intrigue and subtlety – little clues that go on to mean bigger things, the tension of Carano’s escape from Dublin. The film has some telling moments of absolute silence, both auditory and visual, and allows its story to develop at a steady pace, keeping what could easily be a convoluted affair easy to follow. David Holmes’ Seventies-flavoured score compliments the action perfectly – notably, the fight scenes are presented without music to heighten the impact, and rightly so.

As mentioned, Carano proves herself to be a more than capable actress, able to display vulnerability as well as toughness, and having a naturalness about her delivery that means she’s never overwhelmed by the rest of the cast, who also include Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas. The film leaves room for the return of Mallory Kane, and I for one would be happy to see her back in other films – or better still, a TV series. In the meantime, this is a thoroughly entertaining, smart and slick action movie, and well worth checking out.

DAVID FLINT

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