- 9
...a delivery system for ass-kickings, calibrated to the specific talents of Gina Carano, a former mixed-martial-arts star and American Gladiator whose fists (and feet) of fury can rattle skulls and cave in chests.
—Scott Tobias Onion AV Club
- 8
Where faux-empowering The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo confines sexual power play to the old rape-revenge matrix, Haywire is a real war-of-the-sexes tournament, briskly paced with a tickling sense of black humor.
—Nick Pinkerton Village Voice
- 8
...a supremely economical, pulse-pounding and undeniably bewildering thriller, which plays like a blend of mid-'90s Hong Kong action flick and mid-'70s European crime drama. Arguably this movie amounts to less than the sum of its parts - but hot damn, those are some parts.
—Andrew O'Hehir Salon
- 8
Paring down narrative and character concerns in favor of a breathtaking application of pure thriller technique, Soderbergh's latest picture is a lean, efficient exercise tossed off with his customary sangfroid and wickedly dry sense of humor.
—Justin Chang Variety
- 8
...comes close to achieving Soderbergh's goal of creating "a Pam Grier movie made by Alfred Hitchcock."
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 7
...a vigorous spy thriller that consistently beckons the viewer to catch up with its narrative twists and turns. Bordering on convoluted, it works best when in combat mode.
—Claudia Puig USA Today
- 7
...doesn't measure up to the best of the director's work - like, say, his Oscar-winning drug drama, Traffic. But watching Carano kick, spin, flip, choke, crack and crush the fiercest of foes - mostly men about twice her size - is thoroughly entertaining, highly amusing and frankly somewhat awe-inspiring.
—Betsy Sharkey Los Angeles Times
- 7
...has no lasting significance, but it's a pleasure to see an A-list director taking the care to make a first-rate genre thriller.
—Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
- 7
The script makes no attempt to assert its plausibility or realism; it is, instead, refreshingly frank about what it is, a simple, workable framework for the melees and mayhem.
—Todd McCarthy Hollywood Reporter
- 7
In terms of its title, Haywire doesn't quite go there; it's more "Haywire-ish." But it's eccentric, and the on-screen violence is sharp and exciting - brutal without being either subhumanly sadistic or superhumanly ridiculous.
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 6
...what, exactly, does this smart, traditional thriller lack? Energy. Or perhaps a better way to put it is internal drive. Whenever Ms. Carano and the company engage in hand to hand combat, the film flies off the screen. We are drawn into their world and never want to leave. The minute the wounds start to heal and the blood congeals, however, everything dries up and stagnates...including our attention span.
—Bill Gibron filmcritic.com
- 6
...cavorts around the world - Barcelona, Dublin, upstate New York, New Mexico - with Bourne-again energy and timeline shuffles, making only cursory attempts at plot coherence...
—Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly
- 5
Once the talking stops and the action begins, her professionalism is very much in evidence and exciting to watch. And yet, somehow, it cannot quite relieve the tedium of a movie that is too cool even to pretend that there is anything worth fighting about.
—A. O. Scott New York Times
- 5
...the problem with Haywire is its overall lack of importance, as putting a Maxim model through a somewhat novel wringer doesn't quite constitute essential viewing.
—R. Kurt Oseland Slant Magazine