In Haywire, Gina Carano – mixed martial arts fighter and one of the gals of American Gladiators – kicks, jumps, runs and kills with so much precision, force and stark professionalism that you feel bad for the actors getting hit. And boy, can Carano punch the living daylights out of people.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs, Haywire has no semblance of plot and intelligence because it’s made along the lines of genre-heavy action film like the ones starring Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Seagal from the ’80s and ’90s. The reason of existence for those films was only that our hero could punch through any conundrum. In those days, who cared for plot, character depth or for that matter acting?

Haywire’s wafer thin plot has Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) working for an organisation that handles unsavory government assignments. She gets involved in an intrigue that makes her a fugitive and what ensues is old fashion name clearing and vengeance.

Soderbergh, who under a pseudonym is the cinematographer and editor, gets overtly generous with lifeless long stretches of silence and a lot of walking between Carano’s actions. He knows, however, how to show off his star and her strong points (her athletic prowess and forceful beauty) which leaves no room to judge her acting chomps.

But after seeing the supporting cast in Haywire you can be sure of one thing: Hollywood stars love Soderbergh. The supporting cast consists of Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum and Bill Paxton.

Haywire is not going to be remembered as a popular escapist action film; heck, even I have forgotten most of it. But time will tell if Carano will be forgotten like Soderbergh’s other indulgence (adult film actor Sasha Grey who was the lead in his film Girlfriend Experience), or will she be accepted in Hollywood as a new action heroine. Only time will tell.—Farheen Jawaid