HAPHAZARD and frenetic by name, Haywire is a coolly- assured and breathlessly choreographed action thriller tailored to the dazzling athletic prowess of its leading lady.

Harking from a mixed martial arts background, Gina Carano is 5ft 8in of pure muscle and dynamism, who scythes through stunt sequences.

She could easily bruise the egos of James Bond and Jason Bourne, wrapping her legs around one assailant in Steven Soderbergh's film and crushing his neck between her thighs.

In this battle of the sexes, the female is far more deadly than dozens of males. When one hit man discovers she is his next mark, he calmly responds that he has never killed a woman before.

"You should never think of her as being a woman – that's a mistake," warns the client.

Freelance gun-for-hire Mallory Kane (Carano) is one of the best in the business, keeping a cool head when the rest of her team panic during a bungled rescue operation.

Her handler, Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), accepts a job from the enigmatic Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas) and dispatches Mallory to Dublin, where she must pose as the wife of fellow assassin Paul (Michael Fassbender) and neutralise a high-profile asset.

However, the mission is fatally compromised and Mallory discovers her friends have betrayed her.

She questions who to trust, even her former lover and accomplice, Aaron (Channing Tatum).

Mallory's father, military man John Kane (Bill Paxton), inspires her to exact a brutal revenge but there are powerful men working against his daughter including Coblenz (Michael Douglas).

Haywire opens with a bang in a diner in upstate New York, where Mallory and Aaron have a furious brawl before she escapes in a car belonging to innocent bystander Scott (Michael Angarano).

Director Soderbergh, who put an artful gloss on the disaster movie with Contagion, is assured behind the camera, editing together each bone-crunching skirmish with brio.

For adrenaline junkies, the film delivers. However, all of the thrills come at the expense of plot, characterisation and emotion.

Lem Dobbs's knowing script provides a flimsy narrative on which to hang each high-octane sequence and for all her physical flair, Carano doesn't demonstrate much in the way of performance skills.

The film flits around the world exploding into life every time Carano leaps across rooftops or chases after a henchman through busy traffic.

She is the V8 engine thundering beneath the bonnet of a second-hand hatchback.

Damon Smith