Better Than I Expected

This is one I had in the back of my head to watch for a while, just because it seems weird that a January action movie starring ans MMA fighter would be directed by Soderbergh and have such a good cast. I still wasn't expecting much, though. I was surprised that I found it pretty entertaining. The story is paper thin but all the fight scenes were great, it was very atmospheric and having great actors like Douglas, Fassbender, McGregor and Banderas certainly made the whole thing go down smoother. Bill Paxton was good as the folksy dad too and added some heart. I do wish Fassbender had been in it more, though. He and Carano seemed to have some actual chemistry going on in their brief scenes so that could have added something more to the movie if expanded. The cinematography and score were cool too.

As for what appears to be the most popular topic on this board, It never occurred to me that it was "unrealistic" to have her beating up all the men in the movie. In actuality, Carano is probably physically stronger than any of them aside from Tatum. If anything I was a little surprised that Fassbender (who was thinner back then) could take her on. And I hate contrived "Girl Power" stuff. This movie wasn't that. Aside from the romantic subplots and using the husband-wife cover with Fassbender, you could have made the movie with a male lead without changing anything.

I probably won't re-watch it any time, but overall it was a good way to kill an hour and a half (that's pretty much the aim of action films, right?) and better than most of the crap action movies that come out these days. 7/10