I am in two minds when it comes to "Red Sparrow". On one hand, it is a smart thriller with solid performances and brutal imagery. On the other hand, it is rather dull and slow-paced with a flawed twist. Watching this film was a completely new experience for me, not because of the film itself, but because I accidentally booked myself in for a subtitled screening. This did take a bit of getting used to, but by 30 minutes in they became less bothersome. On paper, "Red Sparrow" is "Atomic Blonde" meets "Fifty Shades of Grey"; a seductive and sultry take on the typical spy film. In reality, the 'sexiness' often feels unnecessary, with moments of nudity and sexual intercourse adding nothing to the plot. I'm not sure if Francis Lawrence failed to capture the same tone as the source material or whether the script is a horrible adaption of the book, but "Red Sparrow" just does not click in the way it should. I have not read Jason Matthews' trilogy, but based on it being an acclaimed and best-selling series, "Red Sparrow" should have been compelling and entertaining throughout; Simply put, it was not. 

Jennifer Lawrence is good. However, Lawrence has impressed me so much in the past as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games" series and most recently, as the title character in last year's "mother!" that a 'good' performance is ultimately an underwhelming one. To Lawrence's credit, she continues to showcase her range as an actress; she disappears into the character of Dominika, and other than an occasionally wobbly Russian accent, does the best she can with the material she has been given. I do feel that Jennifer Lawrence is above the material and likely would not have agreed to star in this film if Francis Lawrence was not the director; I understand that Francis Lawrence played a big part in fast-tracking Jennifer's career, but while she has continued to impress in a variety of roles since the completion of "The Hunger Games", Francis has not made another movie. In years to come, this will be one of Lawrence's lesser known roles and for those who do remember it, they will likely recall this, even though I hate to say it, as the film where Lawrence bares all. 

Common themes amongst this talented cast are dodgy accents and unfulfilled potential. "Red Sparrow" assembles a cast who between them have 2 Academy Awards (4 nominations), 7 Golden Globes (12 nominations), a BAFTA (3 nominations) and 4 Primetime Emmies (8 nominations); it can be easily argued for each of them that their talent is wasted and underused in this film. Charlotte Rampling plays a role that has the potential to be interesting and memorable, but she is undercut by a lack of screentime; Jeremy Irons does not have too much to do, and when he finally gets to shine, it all feels a little rushed; Mary-Louise Parker plays a drunk sell-out, a performance I'm sure she hopes to forget. Joel Edgerton had an opportunity with this film to finally prove himself as 'leading man material', yet he delivers an uninspired and mundane performance. Edgerton is going to continue to be stuck in roles like this if he continues to bring nothing special to the table. It does not help either that I believe the film went about Edgerton's character the completely wrong way; instead of being introduced right from the beginning, Edgerton's Nate Nash could have been an ambiguous figure that the audience and Dominika learnt more about as the film went on and consequently building trust between Dominkia and Nate as well as Nate and the audience. 

"Red Sparrow" fittingly tells an expansive and elaborate story in a lengthy run-time of 140 minutes. Despite the story arguably requiring almost two and a half hours, the writers somehow manage to suck a lot of the energy and tension out of the narrative, leaving many dull scenes for viewers to sit through. Then again, anybody who has seen the overlong and overcomplex "A Cure for Wellness" or the infamously slow-paced "The Lone Ranger" should not expect anything different from the same writer. Some scenes may be boring, but some sequences are also incredibly rushed; for example, Dominika spends hardly any time in 'Sparrow school' before she is tasked with her first mission; I was expecting elaborate training sequences, instead, the audience get to attend a couple of lectures given by Charlotte Rampling's Matron. In retrospect, the mission Dominika gets sent on is pretty simple, but the film certainly knows how to complicate it by adding in twists that may be unnecessary, but are a welcome source of energy and excitement. I expected the film to take more time focusing on the skills Dominika would use to seduce Nate, instead she gets his attention quite quickly and easily. By default, this did not portray Dominika as the most skilled spy, the best thing she could do was pick a lock. 

SPOILERS

The second half of the film was much more entertaining than the first; the mystery was unveiled as the plot reached its climax. I started really enjoying the film when the characters flew to London; it was interesting to see Dominika manipulate and use the intelligence services of both nations to her advantage. For me, the answer to the mystery was too complicated and did not make much sense. Some have also called it quite predictable for a film in the spy genre. It is revealed that Jeremy Irons' General Korchnoi is the mole. Thanks to the script, Irons reveals this to the audience in a conversation with Dominika that is full of flowery language and confusing phrases. It is then disclosed that Dominika has been playing the Russian intelligence service this whole time and she frames her uncle Vanya Egorov. The explanation of this is wishy-washy but does make sense on some level. What I failed to understand was why the Russian and American intelligence agreed to meet to exchange their 'moles'; the Russian intelligence never thought that Dominika was being held hostage by the American intelligence, they actually suspected she had developed feelings for Nate. If the Russian intelligence had been depicted as believing Dominika was being held hostage by the Americans, this would have worked and made more sense. I was actually surprised by how grounded the twist was; I was expecting something ridiculous like Dominika having a secret twin or that she was actually American the whole time (Lawrence's wobbly accent is to blame for this). Although I have ranted quite a bit about the slow pace and plot holes, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy watching "Red Sparrow"; it had its thrilling moments and I was engrossed in the story.

A big selling point of this film is that it promises to contain brutal violence, nudity and sex. "Red Sparrow" does include all of those things, but I'm not sure those things were utilised in the best way possible. For example, Dominika finds out early on that the other dancers planned for her to break her leg. Her reaction? To walk in on them in the shower and beat them to death. This heavy violence did feel unnecessary, although this scene could be used to show Dominika's aggressive side. There are also a few discomforting scenes where Dominika is raped; obviously hard to watch, these scenes came out of nowhere and had me questioning whether the film needed to go that far. In particular, Dominika is having a shower when a boy comes in and starts sexually abusing her; this scene was in complete contrast to the scene prior to it and was only touched upon later on. Rape is such a delicate matter; I feel like filmmakers should handle the portrayal of rape as sensitively as they can. There are not any action scenes until the very end yet "Red Sparrow" manages to shoe-horn in plenty of gory and bloody imagery. The torture scenes were disturbing. I was disappointed that the film did not really show how the sparrows seduce their victims in practice; Dominika does not get to use her seduction skills on Nate as he is suspicious of her from the get-go. It would have been a nice touch to either show an experienced sparrow seduce someone in the opening scene, or for Dominika to seduce someone successfully before being tasked with the Nate mission. "Red Sparrow" delivers everything it promises, whether it is necessary to the plot is another discussion.

Finally, "Red Sparrow" has all the ingredients for a stylish and sophisticated spy thriller yet the final product is far from this. I think this is down to Francis Lawrence's poor direction; The film has great production and costume design and Lawrence may have shot some beautiful locations, but "Red Sparrow" lacks style. The camerawork is pedestrian; there could have been more inventive and creative ways to capture what is happening on screen. The film does start off on a strong note with a great opening sequence that parallels Dominika's injurious dance routine with Nate's police chase. From this point onwards though, visually, "Red Sparrow" is nothing special. I enjoyed all of the films in "The Hunger Games" series quite a bit and would expect Francis Lawrence to deliver a film stronger than this. A story like "Red Sparrow" requires a director with a specific vision, something Lawrence clearly does not have. I should also note that the choice of classical music as the film's score was an interesting creative move, one that I am on board with. I also could not work out whether Jennifer Lawrence performed her character's entire ballet routine or whether similar technology was used as seen in "I, Tonya".

Fans of the spy genre should enjoy "Red Sparrow"; it is a different kind of spy movie, one that focuses less on action and more on psychological manipulation. Jennifer Lawrence continues to be one of Hollywood's most reliable actresses, even if her performance here is not up there with her best. Lawrence and the entire supporting cast are all underused. The story moves at a slow pace while also cramming a lot of story into an already lengthy running time (how does that even work?). Brutal and often unsettling to watch, "Red Sparrow" and its lead, Jennifer Lawrence, are not scared to step into new territories, even if they perhaps go too far at times. While I have many problems with the film, it still functions as a decent spy thriller and with a better director and stronger script, "Red Sparrow" could have been something special.

58

/100

What did you think of RED SPARROW? What is your favourite spy film? - COMMENT BELOW