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19th August 2025
10:22am BST

Prime Video has just added Haywire to its service, the excellent 2011 action thriller from director Steven Soderbergh (the Ocean's Trilogy, Traffic).
The film stars former MMA artist Gina Carano (Deadpool) as Mallory Kane, a highly trained operative for a government security contractor whose missions take her to the world's most dangerous areas.
Not long after Mallory successfully frees a journalist being held hostage, she's betrayed and left for dead on assignment in Dublin by someone in her own agency.
"Knowing her survival depends on learning the truth behind the double-cross, Mallory uses her black-ops training to set a trap," the plot synopsis adds.
"But when things go awry, Mallory knows she'll die unless she can turn the tables on her adversary."
Surrounding Carano in Haywire's cast are several A-list actors, including Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, and Michael Fassbender.
Mostly shot in Ireland, the film earned very positive reviews from critics upon release.
Its supporting cast, its time-shuffling screenplay by Lem Dobbs (The Limey) and the stripped-back way Soderbergh shoots his action scenes - showcasing Carano's physicality and stunts - were singled out for particular praise.
In fact, IndieWire, in a recent list, called Haywire the 14th best action movie of the 21st century.
You can check out some other positive write-ups for the film below:
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."
Detroit News: "Haywire isn't a by-the-numbers action vehicle; it's a crafty thriller that works to undo beat-em-up clichés. In short, it's a livewire."
Movieline: "This is the best kind of action film: One in which we're actually granted the pleasure of watching bodies move."
Rolling Stone: "Haywire comes close to achieving Soderbergh's goal of creating 'a Pam Grier movie made by Alfred Hitchcock'."
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."
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."
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Haywire is streaming in Ireland and the UK on Prime Video.
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