Film Review: Haywire (15) (From The Northern Echo)

Film Review: Haywire (15)

5:16pm Thursday 19th January 2012 in Reviews By Steve Pratt

Rating: 4/5

DIRECTOR Steven Soderbergh alternates between the sublime (Traffic, Che) and the ridiculous (Ocean’s Eleven).

Click here to check showtimes for Haywire (15)

The all-action, totally ridiculous Haywire fits in the latter category.

This very silly but perfectly executed thriller in the Bourne mould has martial arts star Gina Carano doing what she does best – running, jumping, punching, shooting but never standing still.

The film opens with a fight in a cafe as Mallory Kane (Carano) comes to blows with a former fellow operative (Channing Tatum) and fleeing the scene with bystander Scott (Michael Angarano), to whom she can tell her story.

It’s complicated with double and triple-cross the order of the day. Best not to try to work out who’s doing what to whom but just sit back and watch as she punches the lights out of Michael Fassbender, outwits Michael Douglas and a bearded Antonio Banderas, and plays I spy with Ewan McGregor.

Happily, the film doesn’t pause for a moment – chases across Dublin rooftops, car chases through a forest and the inevitable final confrontation – piling up exciting, wince-making action scenes.