[yasr_overall_rating]
Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to ‘Sparrow School,’ a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.
I’ve always found Jennifer Lawrence to be a very interesting actor. She can take a role like that of Katniss from “The Hunger Games,” a character that could have wound up as a cardboard cutout, a wannabe action heroine with no real dimensionality, and in the hands of a less capable performer, that may very well have been the case but she added layers of depth, emotion, and ferociousness that were slowly peeled away over the course of the series, forcing you to care about her and her plight. She is not liked by everyone, to some, she is an acquired taste but she is never boring.
In the tradition of great Cold War movies like “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy,” “Red Sparrow” takes place in present-day Russia and is a great throwback to the Cold War era. Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is the crème de la crème of the Bolshoi Ballet. She is their prima ballerina and during a performance one evening, her male counterpart accidentally lands on her leg, bending it backward. After an operation to help save her leg, she realizes that she will never be able to dance again. She takes cares of her sick mother, Nina (Joely Richardson), in an apartment she is living in that the Bolshoi pays for but when her uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts) turns up on her doorstep and informs her that the Bolshoi will no longer pay for the apartment, Dominika begins to worry. Vanya tells her that if she is willing to work for him and the Russian government as a spy, she will be able to keep her apartment and continue looking after her mother. She reluctantly agrees and is sent off to “Sparrow School,” where she will learn to use her body in the ways of seduction in order to get close to her enemy targets.
When the Russians learn that Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton), a CIA operative who is deep undercover and located in Moscow, is conversing with a Russian mole, they take Dominika out of Sparrow School and give her Nate’s case, informing her that she is to get close to him, gain his trust, and then find out who the mole is so they can terminate them. She has a few chance encounters with Nate and he is immediately smitten with her. She just wants to get the job done and does everything by the playbook but gradually, they fall for each other on assignment in London. When she is given the opportunity by Nate and his boss, to help them with their case, she is promised safe passage to the United States, for both her and her mother, provided that she keeps up her end of the bargain. She agrees, in consideration of the fact that there is nothing left for her in Russia and begins working for the CIA as a double agent. When her uncle Vanya begins to have his doubts about her, she is brought back to Moscow, where she undergoes barbaric torture by her handlers, wanting to know if she has turned traitor but she never gives them what they want to hear. Eventually, they believe her and send her back to London to reunite with Nate, informing her to keep up her facade but when things go awry, Dominika doesn’t know who to trust anymore and instead, goes with her gut instinct, a move that will, ultimately, set both sides on fire.
After the press screening I attended, a lot of people said how disappointed they were with the film, stating that they went in expecting an action movie but it is not, and the trailers never once hint at that. “Red Sparrow” is a slow-burning suspense thriller, and while there are a few moments of action, the story, overall, is about suspense and intrigue. If you go in knowing this in advance, chances are you will probably enjoy it more. The movie has a top-notch cast, as well as Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton, you also have Jeremy Irons, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, Ciarán Hinds, and Joely Richardson. The film was directed by Francis Lawrence, who directed Ms. Lawrence (no relation) in “The Hunger Games” and while I personally wasn’t too enthralled with that series’ first installment, here, Mr. Lawrence delivers the goods. The movie works at setting up plot points you expect to go in one direction but Mr. Lawrence is a master at misdirection and after a while, you stop trying to figure out everything in advance and just sit back and have fun. The film really adds nothing new to the spy genre but it is a well-crafted thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end.
In theaters Friday, March 2nd
