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Haywire

Starring:  Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, and Michael Douglas
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Screenplay by: Lem Dobbs

    It seems like if Steven Soderberg forgot to cast anybody in Contagion from a few months back, they got their chances to shine now in Haywire.
    Mallory Kane (Gina Carano), a black ops soldier, wants payback after being betrayed by the people who trained and employ her.  In order to trap her, a mission must go wrong and a trap needs to be set up for her to fall into.  The mission goes wrong and the trap is set up, but she escapes, sending everyone on a manhunt for her.  Mixed in with about a million tiny details, this is one thrilling story.
    While it may be exciting and entertaining, not everything is explained very well.  For example, why do they want to trap Mallory in the first place?  What got her into this whole mess?  This is not explained.  There are quite a few plot holes such as this one.  It's also hard to figure out who's who in the beginning, especially since about half of the story is told in flashback.
     Some of Soderbergh's other works such as Contagion, do not necessarily have one main character or focus on one character in particular.  That's not the case with Haywire at all.  It's something I was expecting to see, but didn't happen.  Mallory is clearly the main character of this film, with some emphasis on a few other characters.
      Gina Carano is a Mixed Martial Arts fighter, and fits the role perfectly for Mallory Kane.  There aren't a whole lot of fight scenes.  However, these fight scenes are intense.  There's lots happening in each fight sequence which is usually only a few seconds.  Honestly, it's kind of fun to see a woman beating the crap out of a bunch of tough guys.
      The trailers might suggest this to be a rather violent and bloody film.  It really isn't that blood and not terribly violent at all.  This makes me wonder then, why does it have an R rating?  It would be better rated as PG-13.  This is definitely an entertaining movie, and you'll probably need to see it two or three times to really understand the story.  There's just a whole lot of stuff happening in each scene and the film moves at a very rapid pace.  However, it's not worth paying to see it two or three times.  If you're going to see it in theaters, my advice is to just pay for it once, and wait until it comes out on DVD.
      I'm making Haywire go haywire with a C+.

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