20 Action Movies From The 21st Century That Didn't Actually Suck

19. Haywire (2011)

Ong Bak
Relativity

One of the most overlooked entries on Steven Soderbergh's filmography, the versatile filmmaker made the only straight-up action movie of his career with Haywire, which also marked the feature debut of MMA fighter and total bad-ass Gina Carano in the lead role.

While the leading lady is admittedly a limited actress, Soderbergh surrounds her with a heavyweight supporting cast including Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton, with Carano unsurprisingly proving very adept at handling the movie's fight sequences.

Although it follows a familiar 'highly-trained operative must unravel a conspiracy' narrative, the story moves along at a rapid pace and Soderbergh injects the movie with his usual stylistic flourishes, as well as more than a few bruising set-pieces. With a running time of just 93 minutes and a budget of $23m, Haywire is a great example of lo-fi genre filmmaking, which just happens to be directed by one of the best in the business.

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