Trailer
Synopsis
Mallory Kane, an operative for a private contractor working for the US government, is sent to Barcelona to free a hostage, then to Dublin on a job that turns out to be a set-up. Betrayed by her employers and hunted from country to country, she has to get to the people who ordered her killed.
Why watch it
An MMA fighter in the lead
Steven Soderbergh wrote this film for Gina Carano after watching her fight on television. In 2011 Carano was the best-known fighter in American women's MMA: 7 wins in 8 professional bouts, in EliteXC and Strikeforce, before her 2009 loss to Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino. The director built the film around what she could actually do: strike, grab, choke. Her voice was reworked in post-production, but the fights are hers, with no double in the wide shots.
Fights without music
The film runs 92 minutes and its fight scenes are shot like records of events. No score, few cuts, wide frames that show whole bodies. The hotel-room fight in Dublin against Michael Fassbender has become a reference: elbows, an armbar, a rear naked choke, all on carpet, with no acrobatic choreography. Fight coordinator J.J. Perry, a former taekwondo practitioner turned stuntman, blended Carano's MMA with krav maga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The blows look heavy because the actors land them for real, at reduced speed, and the editing does not cheat.
What a practitioner will recognise
MMA fans will spot the moves from the cage: the guard pass, the triangle, the straight armbar, back control and the rear naked choke that ends several scenes. Carano also uses clinch knees from her Muay Thai background, the sport she competed in before MMA. The film shows a woman who wins through technique and stamina, not a gadget or superhuman strength, which sets it apart from most action films with a female lead.
Reception
Released in the United States on 20 January 2012, the film grossed about 33 million dollars worldwide on a 23 million budget, a modest return. Critics were kinder: 80% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, praising the fights and the direction while finding the spy plot thin. The supporting cast, from Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas to Ewan McGregor and Channing Tatum, helped it find an audience on home video. It remains the best entry point for understanding what MMA brought to action cinema: short, close and believable fights.
Where to watch
Availability checked on November 7, 2026.
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