After the fast-paced Contagion last year, Steven Soderbergh directs Haywire, an action-thriller toplining Gina Carano, the professional mixed martial arts star moving on from televised cage matches to films. The slick Sod­erbergh, who has to his credit big films such as Erin Brockovich and the remake of Ocean’s Eleven along with smaller films such as Schizopolis and Che, pulls together an ensemble cast for his latest film. Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Ch­anning Tatum, Michael Fassbender and Michael An­garano star in this tale of espionage and betrayal.

Produced by Gregory Jacobs and written by Lem Dobbs, Haywire has Carano playing a black ops op­erative who’s kicking ass left, right and centre after she’s double crossed. The premise of Soderbergh’s last film and his new one is similar. Contagion cent­red on the threat posed by a deadly virus that spreads and kills within days, and the government’s efforts to quell it; Haywire focuses on a fatal, fast-moving rogue element and the system’s efforts to quash it.

In Haywire, first announced under the title Kn­ockout, Carano plays Mallory Kane, a female covert ops specialist who is hired out by her handler, a government security contractor. Her clients? Global entities that send her on missions governments can't allow. Used to working in the most dangerous corners of the world and getting out of every inconceivable situation, Kane has finished off a mission —freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage — when she is double-crossed. Left for dead by someone close, Kane suddenly finds herself targeted by skilled assassins who seem to know her better than herself.

In the background are many dodgy men sporting suits — reptilian executive Coblenz (Michael Dou­glas), polished client Rodrigo (Banderas) and Kane’s chief contact, Kenneth (McGregor). It is at her contact’s insistence that Kane heads to Dublin for a qu­ick mission, one that turns out to be a trap. Soon the target of an international manhunt, Kane must find a way to get at the truth and stay alive. Using her bla­ck ops background, she comes up with a resourceful (and, of course, dangerous) plan. But things soon go haywire. Kane will need to tap all her skills and abilities to get out of this explosive situation.

Carano, who underwent an intense six-week tactical training course to get into Kane’s shoes, makes an action-packed debut. She performs her own ad­renaline-pumping stunts, displaying immense athletic prowess. She may be a mixed martial arts star, but will the star of the film rookie shine bright? Her debut is certainly striking. And Soderbergh, who wa­nted to make a spy movie on a human scale, seems to think so. Apparently, his first reaction when he saw Carano on TV was: “She is (James) Bond, just in a different context”.

After showcasing his action filmmaking chops, Soderbergh’s next will be Magic Mike, a film with Channing Tatum in the lead. Based on Tatum’s experiences of working as a male stripper in his youth, the film will see him playing the title mentor character, while Alex Pettyfer will play a character based on Tatum.

So should you go for Haywire? Definitely yes, if you like cloak-and-dagger stuff and want to check out Soderbergh’s masterful treatment of the thriller technique!