The Collective

BOP is of the collective opinion that Steven Soderbergh's career choices have been predicated upon who he is crushing on at the moment. Whether that is George Clooney, Terence Stamp, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Laura San Giacomo or Sasha Grey, the song remains the same. He creates either populist or esoteric works of staggering genius depending upon who is his muse of the moment.

Enter Gina Carano.

Those of you who did watch the evolving sport of mixed martial arts may not be familiar with her work. If you watched the short-lived return of American Gladiators in 2008, you would know her as Crush. Given how quickly that show was pulled from the primetime lineup, however, this is unlikely. Suffice to say that Carano is an accomplished MMA champion whose only loss in her professional career came at the hands of a woman later caught abusing steroids. Carano is as tough a woman as there is on the planet Earth and that is what makes her casting in Haywire pure genius.

Haywire tells the story of a covert operative who technically does not work for the federal government but who has performed several unseemly tasks for them. This woman, Mallory Kane, has a breakfast meeting with a former team member from a failed mission. And he tries to kill her. At this point, Mallory understands that people want her dead. She must discover why they are covering their tracks before they can eliminate the final loose end, her.

While the story is not original by any stretch of the imagination, Haywire does promise several staples from the Soderbergh toolbox. Fractured time, unique fight sequences and imaginative camera shots are a strong selling point on their own. Combined with a legitimate badass like Gina Carano, Haywire offers the promise of a genuinely great action movie if the sum is at least as good as its parts. (David Mumpower/BOP)

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