Haywire is essentially Steven Soderbergh's attempt at making an martial arts movie. And while it has some solid moments and a plot that I'll admit left me a bit confused, it's really just an average genre movie that is probably best left as a rental. While the opening action scenes were, let's say, impactful, Soderbergh committed the cardinal actioner sin of having the best fights at the start of the movie. Yes, Carano has some nice moves in the later fights but they feel repetitive at best or simply lackluster in some cases.

As for Carano, she is most certainly sexy and makes the most out of biting her lip but she is clearly not an actress so while her skills as a fighter definitely boost the action scenes, her acting ability doesn't add much. Granted, she's not given much to do but she's kind of a blank slate, a human weapon who doesn't bring much personality to the table. You watch her because she kicks ass but you root for her only because, well, you're supposed to.

The score is interesting and very much in line with Soderbergh's usual music choices but I felt like the horns made the score too noticeable at times. I'm not sure if he was going for a Shaft vibe but there were a few times that I couldn't help but think of that film when the horns hit. So while I kind of liked the music, I felt like the score was distracting at times.

In the end, the film was a long way to go for a little payoff and if you've seen the ads and online marketing (featuring the fights between Carano and Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender) then you've seen the best parts of the film.