For a film that's supposedly meant to give mixed martial artist Gina Carano a kickstart to a potential career as a big screen action star, there's just not enough display of ass-kicking to show off her stuff. Director Steven Soderbergh has described Haywire as a "Pam Grier movie made by Alfred Hitchcock" - a novel enough idea - but his restrained, cooled-down approach to action doesn't suite Carano's prowess. She needs more of a visceral, ferocious Bourne-like execution to get us engaged in her tough physicality, not a movie that's coasting in jazzy-Ocean's Eleven mode. If you can see pass her blank line readings, Carano does have a likeable, unpretentious presence, and whenever she's doing her thing - dropping dudes, running across rooftops - Haywire comes to life. But the story is strictly B-level espionage/double-crossing nonsense, with convoluted twists and a star cast (Banderas, McGregor, Fassbender), playing all manner of untrustworthiness, attempting to distract us from the fact there's not much emotional investment. On the plus side, Soderbergh's devotion to sleek, glossy surfaces makes the film easy on the eyes, and he can shoot action sequences with spatial clarity. It's just too bad the stakes are pretty low for most of the film. An interesting, admirable if not successful genre exercise.