Movie Review: 'Red Sparrow'

Red Sparrow is a lurid, trashy, and violent spy thriller in which Jennifer Lawrence stars as a ballet dancer turned sexy spy. If you are going to enjoy Red Sparrow, you need to make sure you are in the proper mindset. If you go in expecting a classy spy thriller, you may find yourself disappointed; Red Sparrow is a frightful and tawdry spy thriller brimming with violence, torture, and sex.

Jennifer Lawrence portrays Dominika Egorova, a ballet dancer who lost her place in the Bolshoi Ballet after she was intentionally injured by a fellow dancer. With nowhere to turn, and a sick mother to care for, Dominika is forced to turn to her shady uncle, Vanya (Matthias Shoenaerts), for help. Vanya works in Russian intelligence and is eager to use Dominika’s celebrity to his advantage on a mission to kill a Russian billionaire.

Tricked into participating in the man’s death, Dominika is forced to attend Sparrow School, where she will learn a unique brand of spy play. Dominika and her fellow sparrows will be taught to steal secrets using the art of seduction but first they must have their morality and inhibitions washed away via a series of tortures and humiliations overseen by a woman known only as Matron (Charlotte Rampling).

Dominika is then sent to Budapest for her first mission wherein she will attempt to seduce and destroy an American CIA agent named Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton). Agent Nash has a mole deep inside Russian intelligence and it is Dominika’s mission to discover the name of the mole by any means necessary. However, when Nate figures out who she really is, she becomes a pawn in a new undercover Cold War.

Francis Lawrence directed Red Sparrow and while I would never call him an auteur, he does compose some lovely shots, especially an early scene at the Bolshoi Ballet. Francis Lawrence’s main talent however, is the pacing and timing of a very good director, one who can construct a good scene even if it is a rather shallow scene in terms of story, character, and dialogue. Red Sparrow is over two hours long but hums along at a good clip and thanks to this talented cast, we’re never bored while we wait for the next twist.

Jennifer Lawrence delivers a bold and daring performance in Red Sparrow. She is especially good in an incredible scene of sexual humiliation that is undoubtedly the most talked about scene in this or any other movie in 2018. This scene striking, forceful, and challenges how you view sex in movies. The scene isn’t sexy, even with Lawrence fully nude. Instead, the scene is a graphic and shocking play on sexual politics, shallow-minded but nevertheless challenging.

The script by Justin Haythe is nothing special but what Francis Lawrence and his cast do with it is clever. Throughout Red Sparrow, we are following Dominika and yet we don’t know where her loyalties lie. Dominika’s plan is to play both sides, Russians and Americans, for her own benefit but the choices she makes betray all sides and it’s kind of fun trying figure out where her genuine feelings are.

Jennifer Lawrence and Edgerton have strong romantic chemistry but I really enjoyed trying to figure whether Dominika was really falling for Nash or whether her Sparrow skills were working another con. Once everything is tied up in a neat little bow, I was happy to be surprised by the outcome, a rarity in a modern thriller. Yes, much of the spy craft in Red Sparrow has a predictable familiarity but the sex, violence, and Jennifer Lawrence’s assured performance go a long way in separating Red Sparrow from similar spy movies.

Is Red Sparrow a great spy movie? No, but it is pretty good. There is some shocking violence and provocative nudity that will no doubt offend some audiences but I found Red Sparrow refreshingly adult and frank about the ways in which sex and love can be weapons as deadly as any armament. The film ends with a sequel tease and while I don’t love the movie, I like Red Sparrow enough to look forward to seeing where Jennifer Lawrence may take this character.