Haywire 2011

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Carano is her own best stuntwoman, but in the dialogue scenes she's all kick and no charisma. The MMA battler lacks the conviction she so forcefully displayed in the ring. She is not Haywire's heroine but its hostage. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Right up to the film's comically abrupt ending, it's all about Mallory's strength, speed and uncanny ability to survive. A dismissive cop, early on, refers to her as "Wonder Woman"; turns out he's not kidding. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Haywire doesn't just start 2012 with a bang; it sets the bar very, very high for every action film that's going to follow in its footsteps this year. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is self-consciously and aggressively trivial, a feast for formalists who sentimentalize the gloriously cheap B-movies of the past. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: There's shockingly little thrill in watching Carano bounce off walls and pummel antagonists. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Steven Soderbergh continues his occasional practice of using actors as found objects in his perfectly enjoyable formula action-thriller Haywire. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: There's no deeper meaning to Steven Soderbergh's thriller than what meets the eye, yet its lustrous surfaces offer great and guilt-free pleasure. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: It's [Dobbs] and Soderbergh's idea of lizard-brain entertainment, and its pleasures are remarkably distilled. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Soderbergh plays with the action genre by planting a real fighter in the role of butt-kicking protagonist, and Carano rises to the challenge. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: "Haywire" feels like minor Soderbergh: zippy, hugely entertaining and well-crafted as always, but not one of his more important films in the broad scheme of things. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The pleasure of this small, eccentric movie is the natural way Carano hurts people - by, say, walking partway up a wall and climbing onto a man's back, by sprinting toward the camera and flying into the human target standing in the foreground. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: There's a good deal of pleasure to be had in the clockwork precision of her hand-to-hand combat, which Soderbergh often shoots in profile to showcase her wall-climbing backflips. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Carano may not be a born or a natural actress; she is, however, an undeniable and heartening rebuke to the skinny-Minnies Hollywood favors over real women with curves. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: "I don't wear the dress," explains Mallory Kane as she ponders the details of her next job. If she did, she'd probably strangle someone with it. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: "Haywire" isn't a by-the-numbers action vehicle, it's a crafty thriller that works to undo beat-em-up cliches. In short, it's a livewire. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Carano projects an intriguing aura in her dramatic-acting debut - part smoky, dark-haired sexuality, part bruiser, with an uninflected alto voice that cuts through crap. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: Carano is nothing special as an actress - but darned if it matters when she's supported by a killer screenplay, a sharp cast, and Steven Soderbergh's unmistakably sly, mordant direction. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: The script makes no attempt to assert its plausibility or realism; it is, instead, refreshingly frank about what it is, a simple, workable framework for the melees and mayhem. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Watching Carano kick, spin, flip, choke, crack and crush the fiercest of foes - mostly men about twice her size - is thoroughly entertaining, highly amusing and frankly somewhat awe-inspiring. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Once you get over the novelty of watching mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano beat up her male co-stars, the film has practically nothing else to offer. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Mixed martial-arts star Carano puts major muscle, if minor acting ability, into this enjoyable action flick. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Carano is strong, fast, relentless. She's not much of an actress yet, but Soderbergh hides her weaknesses well... Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: If "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" was a fancy top-shelf cocktail, this is Polish vodka, neat. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: As with any great action movie, what we're really here to see is the star showing off whatever skills got them on screen to begin with. And Haywire never disappoints. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Carano is cool and in control, even after running, in real time, several blocks and pummeling a guy in an alley. But "Haywire," clean and no-fuss as it is, needs more action scenes to match Carano's game. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: 'Haywire" is a wannabe, or rather a wanna-B, and that B is for "Bourne." Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The whole point of this time-wasting farrago of idiocy is that women can cut, kick, slash, burn, maim and kill just like men -- and make bad movies that are just as stupid. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: From start to finish, serious fun. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This is not "great" Soderbergh, regardless of whether one considers him as an auteur or a mass market entertainer. But it is "good" Soderbergh, and that's more than enough. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: 'Haywire' is a pulse-pounding and fast-moving thriller. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Carano is wonderfully athletic, which is just as well, because she spends most of the film being wonderful athletic. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Haywire comes close to achieving Soderbergh's goal of creating "a Pam Grier movie made by Alfred Hitchcock." Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Haywire" is a lean, clean production, shot and edited by Soderbergh himself and utterly free of the incoherent action sequences and overcooked special effects that plague similarly scaled Hollywood pictures. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: You don't love movies if the sight of Gina Carano beating up every guy in sight doesn't make you laugh, get happy and feel as if you're getting your money's worth. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Though Carano isn't without a certain glowering charisma, her flat line readings and apparent discomfort with dialogue-heavy exchanges make her seem like a refugee from a different, schlockier movie... Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: While she can't out-act Angelina Jolie, Carano definitely looks comfortable onscreen. And she's a lot more credible kicking butt. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Hand it to a wily indie veteran like Soderbergh to find a fresh twist to an old genre: The fighting isn't faked, but the acting is. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Like The Limey, also written by Haywire scribe Lem Dobbs, it's the kind of film that hearkens back to lean-and-mean revenge movies like Get Carter and Point Blank. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Only Steven Soderbergh could produce a slick, modern, cineliterate deconstruction of the Hollywood action caper that also manages to be a rollicking good ride. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Haywire is really just a vehicle for Carano to demonstrate her action chops, which she does with a vengeance, set to David Holmes' buoyant and badass score. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A vigorous spy thriller that consistently beckons the viewer to catch up with its narrative twists and turns. Bordering on convoluted, it works best when in combat mode. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Steven Soderbergh's action-filmmaking chops get a swift, vigorous 92-minute workout in Haywire. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: As cartoonish live-action and photorealistic cartoons reign at the multiplex, all but obsoleting the laws of gravity, Haywire puts the impact back into screen violence, brings it back to earth. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "Haywire" stays true to its low-rent B-movie principles, right down to the fast, strong and quietly competent heroine at its center. Read more