Release Date: March 2, 2018
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeremy Irons
Director: Francis Lawrence
Studio: Chernin Entertainment
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
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Spoilers: Mild
Rating:
Red Sparrow is the twisted tale of a fallen ballerina who has to enter a new world to keep herself and her family afloat. She enters Sparrow School, where they teach her everything she needs to know to use her mind and body as a weapon for Russia. But when she enters the spy game, the web of deceit spreads.
The flick, based on the book by Jason Matthews, stars Jennifer Lawrence as Dominika, the newly minted Russian Sparrow, and Joel Edgerton as Nate Nash, the CIA agent in the field. The two circle about each other, looking for signs of trust and leverage to navigate through their jobs. Dominika’s to identify a mole in Russian Intelligence while Nash is looking to get his mole (codenamed Marble) to resurface and work together. They are at odds and yet are drawn to each other…
Red Sparrow has a surprisingly adept hand at the wheel when it comes to navigating the spy/thriller genre. A poor movie would create and deliver a Gordian knot and in the final act give you the answer, usually a solution you could not have ever put together. Red Sparrow is less a knot and more an intricate braid. Every step of the plot the audience feels as if they understand the next step. And then the next. And so on through the weaving twists and turns and allegiances. You still get thrown for some loops but never as if it was unearned.
Past that, the movie is nothing extraordinary. It isn’t too tense, not really actioning. There is one very intense scene that you absolutely feel. Everyone rocking Russian accents is… notable?
Red Sparrow is a fine enough flick, but certainly not needing to be seen in theaters. If you are into spy movies or JLaw then yeah, check it out as it dives headlong into an arena not frequently explored, but past that it doesn’t elevate the genre.
English