I’m too whipped to write anything about Steven Soderbergh‘s Haywire, which screened tonight at AFIfest to a wildly revved and delighted crowd. If the Sean Connery-Robert Shaw train compartment fight in From Russia With Love is your idea of a classic, Haywire will throttle you right down to the marrow. I’ve always felt that Angelina Jolie was too small and skinny to kick large male ass, but I believe in Gina Carano‘s aggressive abilities 110%.

Asian martial-arts films can go suck it on their knees, but this movie is the shit.

A bit more writing, another video and several photos tomorrow morning. But for now it’s safe to say that Haywire is the smartest, most genuinely thrilling and involving and satisfying kick-ass, faux-exploitation action thriller I’ve seen in a long time. Carano, bless her, beats her way through the entire male cast, and I believed each and every battle.

The above clip contains Soderbergh’s opening remarks before the film began.