Red Sparrow review: Jennifer Lawrence and her Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence head to Russia for this twisty tale of espionage and double-crosses, a mildly entertaining though incredibly brutal feature from the off.
Red Sparrow review by Paul Heath.
Red Sparrow review
I spy with my little eye, something involving the unfaltering Jennifer Lawrence. This is Red Sparrow, an relatively engaging action movie-cum spy thriller in which the accomplished actress play a former dancer, devoted daughter and manipulated pawn; a film promising oodles of suspense from the get go and a plethora of cinematic talent. The cast it delivers on, the suspense? Well, not so much.
Lawrence is Dominika Egorova, a prima ballerina at the famous Bolshoi in Moscow; a young woman with the world quite literally at her feet, who then suffers a horrific, career-ending injury on stage during a sell-out performance. As a result, with Dominika no longer able to perform, the dance company for whom she worked, threaten to stop paying for her mother’s constant medical bills, and the cosy town apartment they both share.
Step in sleazy Ivan Egorov (Matthias Schoenaerts), uncle to Dominika (on her deceased father’s side), a government official who has a small task for the young woman to undertake for him, the return being financial stability for her and her mother. With no option, Dominika takes the job, which, well doesn’t quite go according to plan, and then has the option to be executed – yes, really – or take the less vicious option of attending the so-called Sparrow School, an apparent ‘whore school’ led by Charlotte Rampling’s domineering Matron, where its subjects are trained to deal with the seedier and indeed more seductive side of government work. Dominika opts to attend but is almost immediately plucked from the school to go on her first mission – one which involves Joel Edgerton’s out-of-favour CIA agent Nathaniel Nash, who is just about clinging onto his job after a botched mission involving a hidden mole.
Red Sparrow review
What follows is two hours-plus of very adult themes involving persistent double crosses, full-on nudity from both sexes, constant violence – some of the most extreme seen for the film’s rating – including rape, suggested incest, murder and torture, along with an intricate, espionage-themed plot that commands your full attention.
Based on the book by former CIA operative Jason Matthews, the film has a genuine feel of authenticity which, when coupled with some commanding performances from its central cast, particularly Lawrence, offers an enjoyable, if sometime harrowing experience. Lawrence is brave in her choices in the film, one that reunites her with her ‘Hunger Games’ helmer Francis Lawrence, someone who she clearly trusts as he pushes her to the absolute limits in every scene.
Related: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 Blu-ray review
Nothing seems off limits here, and Jennifer Lawrence shows unrelenting strength with her clear commitment to the part. Joely Richardson (playing Dominika’s mother), along with Ciaran Hinds and Jeremy Irons, provide great support, even though their screen time is more limited. Even seasoned theatre actor Douglas Hodge gets a look in, again playing an eastern European character, and while all of them are decent in their respective roles, one can’t quite help but think whether the film would have been given a greater feeling of authenticity had it cast actors from the countries that they were supposed to representing.
Red Sparrow review
As mentioned before, suspense is key here for it all to mould together nicely. There is distinct lack of that – the most gripping scene involving the swapping of some very old-school 3.5” floppy disks in a hotel room towards the end of the second reel. In fact, it is the violence that gets to you and it really does border on the gratuitous side of the fence. Some scenes are unrelenting, but others do strangely hold back – apparently its fine to show bodies being slashed, stabbed and tortured, but the slicing of the skin is shied away from during one scene late on.
That all said, Red Sparrow is far from a bad film. While predicable, and probably instantly forgettable, it all meshes together rather nicely at the end. A lot of the positives come from the performance and presence of Jennifer Lawrence though, and in other, less able hands, we may have had a completely different, less engaging experience. As it stands, Red Sparrow stands up to most of its promise, even if a lot of it does leave a rather bad taste in the mouth.
Red Sparrow review by Paul Heath, March 2018.
Red Sparrow is now playing in UK cinemas.
