Director: Francis Lawrence
By Alex Watson
While some have remarked that this picture is 'all style and no substance' Red Sparrow is still a movie that engages us. Director Francis Lawrence, reuniting with his Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence. There is an abundance of high-level violence in this tale of spying and betrayal. While Lawrence provides some great bits of visual flair, the story feels overly long and underdeveloped. A great cast is what keeps this afloat and once again Jennifer Lawrence shows how she can be a movie's saviour on talent alone.
Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is an acclaimed dancer for Moscow's Bolshoi ballet, but when her career ends due to injury her life goes down a very different path. Forced by her seedy politician uncle Ivan (Matthias Schoenaerts) to become a 'Sparrow', an operative who seduces potential enemies of the state, Dominika finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place. American spy Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) has a mole when Russian Intelligence and soon his path will soon cross with hers.
Red Sparrow wants to be an accomplished and stylistic thriller. It has the style part down for sure, particularly during a dazzling opening which sees Dominika dancing. Throughout this movie, she is forced to put on performance after performance between Russia and America. When her life is thrown into turmoil, she has little option but to take Ivan's offer to ensure her sick mother (Joely Richardson) is cared for. Despite a confident opening stretch which firmly establishes to different narrative threads, Lawrence is unable to capitalize on this. During a gruelling training regime under Matron (the always watchable Charlotte Rampling), Dominika learns the hard way that her body must sometimes be sacrificed for the nation. While this section is often hard-nosed and brutal, it lacks the punch needed and feels like an excuse to show frequent sexual brutality.
Nate Nash, on the other hand, is dealing his own issues and due to some rather unfortunate behaviour in Moscow, the CIA is reluctant to let him contact his mole. Dominika, on the other hand, is given the task of rooting the mole out. Unfortunately, any hopes for a hard-bitten and tense affair are thrown out the window. Lawrence instead decides to focus on numerous and often gut-wrenching scenes of torture and violence and is unafraid to let the blood spill. This movie does provide stretches of good tension- such as a very nervy disk exchange in a London hotel room. The central love story between Nash and Dominika however, feels tacked on the sake of the film. Rarely do we get the sense they are anything more than collaborators and you get the sense that Lawrence is trying to inject some heart where it is least required.
Also, there is the debatable issue of exactly which side Dominika falls down on? Stripped of her identity and her will to live, she struggles with the notion of remaining loyal to her country. Her body has become her way of surviving and her weapon against the enemy. The movie's sexual themes have divided many along the way and those who view this movie will either find this inspiring or repulsive depending on your mood. However, Lawrence does keep the twists and deception rolling in until the film's climax, though it will be a hard slog to get there.
Jennifer Lawrence is the movie's ace in the deck and despite a slightly cliched Russian accent, she gives this piece her all. Her performance is tested both physically and emotionally and this is a more bold role than you would expect from this actress. Featuring a couple of very full frontal scenes, she is unafraid to embrace the more risky side of this character. Joel Edgerton also puts in a strong supporting turn as Nash and despite having little in the way of character, he makes this character stick out.
Red Sparrow is a more explicit effort than we have come to expect from Francis Lawrence. Though its violence may leave a bad taste afterwards.
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