MOVIE REVIEW: 'Haywire' Quietly Brings Down The House

Haywire resembles other Hollywood action movies in that things blow up, good guys and bad guys fight — and all this revolving around the hero(ine) out to prove her innocence after being betrayed.

Yet, it has an appealing and realistic tone that entertains rather than bores. People don't soar on wires, they throw each other against walls in realistic fighting moves. When our heroine gets cornered, she thinks and fights her way out of it in a professional, believable fashion.

Gina Carano, retired mixed martial arts fighter, plays the titular heroine Mallory Kane, a former Marine who now does covert work for a private firm employed by the government. When her boss asks her to undertake one last, seemingly easy assignment (really, do those ever end well?), she finds herself set up, on the run, and the hunt is on.

In a way she's the anti-Angelina Jolie. When she gets in a fight, you see (gasp!) her hair gets mussed, her clothes torn, and there are marks on her face. While you can't really call her acting particularly deep, the movie shows off what she can do quite well. Time will tell if she's capable of more.

Of course, here she's had the opportunity to learn from some of the best: Ewan McGregor plays against his own type as Carano's less than smooth boss, with Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Michael Fassbender all supporting.

But the film is best during the action scenes, when Carano fights her way out of a corner and uses her background to her best advantage. Beyond that, the film's plot is a lean production that only teeters on convoluted.

Ultimately, the film will satisfies the thinking moviegoer as well as the people who unabashedly love to watch things blow up. It all adds up to a good time for everyone.