When Sex, Lies & Videotape was released in 1989, it would have been difficult to predict the career path for its director Steven Soderbergh. Very few directors have managed to not only flick back and forth between independent films and mainstream so effortlessly, let alone tackle a number of different genres.

And after thirty-odd feature films he's still managing to surprise his audience. Who would have predicted Soderbergh would direct an all-out action film with a female Mixed Martial Arts star with no real acting experience in the leading role?

We all have our bad days at work, but for certain employees, there are bad days and then there are bad days. Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is having that kind of a day. The problem is, it's not the type of thing she can report to HR as someone appears to want her dead.

Obviously it would come as more of a surprise if she worked in a coffee chain (although many people can be overly precious regarding how they like their beverage served), but less so if you're the kind of highly trained black ops specialist she is.

Kane works for an agency that is usually hired out by the US government for covert missions. She's good at what she does too, so when the going gets tough, she gets that little bit tougher.

Her boss and ex-lover Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) has a nice and easy final mission for her; all she has to do is go to Dublin and to hang off the arm of assassin Paul (Michael Fassbender), whilst he goes about his particular business. But as a many have discovered before for themselves when visiting this Irish city, things don't quite go to plan. Except in Kane's case, she finds herself the target for a change. But this triggers two questions in her head: who wants her dead and why?

And this is for your decision to play Obi-Wan Kenobi. What were you thinking?!

Soderbergh took a few risks with this project, and although he's certainly not averse to taking risks in his career, they don't always pay off. Directing what is ostensibly an action film with a sports star certainly sounds like he may be way out of his comfort zone, and possibly have a screw loose, but the end result is surprisingly impressive.

With Carano, the director has managed to create a kick-ass protagonist. She may not be the real deal in terms of her acting ability, but let's face it, it hasn't stopped the likes of Schwarzenegger, Van Damme etc. from having long-lasting careers.

And the fact is, she doesn't have much time to act in the film as she's far too busy running, kicking and fighting her way in and out of trouble in spectacular style. Time and time again she proves that she's got bigger balls than Bourne and is, at the very least, twice as entertaining.

This is due to Soderbergh who creates an incredibly taut playground of fear for his leading lady to lose herself in. He's also helped by a script that contains some genuine thrills out of nothing, with some excellent support casting from the likes of Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton, as well as McGregor and Fassbender.

Considering how cerebral and worthy he can get (we're thinking of Kafka, Solaris and The Good German for instance), Soderbergh appeared to have a hell of a lot of fun with his action play set and produced a really impressive action flick. It may be too soon to put his name down for The Expendables 3, but he can undoubtedly tick yet another genre off of his to-do list.

Haywire manages to impress at every turn; Carano proves that she can provide quite a punch as a leading lady; whilst the film itself boasts a striking combo of genuine thrills and spills.