Red Sparrow (2018) Review

I keep wanting to call this movie Red Robin.  Yum...



After a career ending injury, Russian ballerina, Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is faced with losing her apartment and quality medical care for her mother.  Dominika's creepy uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts), who works in Russian Intelligence offers to help her in exchange for seducing an enemy of the state and stealing information from him.  When the mission goes bad resulting in the death of Dominika's target, she is given a choice, be executed for being witness to the crime, or join the Red Sparrow program, which trains people in seduction in manipulation.  Red Sparrow follows Dominika's training and her first mission, where she is caught between the Russians and the Americans in a game of espionage.  Who's side will Dominika take?  The Russians, the Americans, or her own?


What Works:

Red Sparrow is a pretty standard spy-thriller, but it has some aspects that propel it into recommendation territory.  The violence is over-the-top, brutal, and fantastic.  The movie doesn't hold back, which increased my interest.  It may be overly-reliant on the violence, but it improves the movie.

The other part of the film that is really interesting is the training.  There's a lot of sex and nudity, and it can be graphic.  It won't be everybody's cup of tea, but watching the psychological trauma the trainees go through at this academy is interesting and I wish we could have seen more of it.  This was the most interesting stretch of the movie.

While most of Dominika's mission isn't very interesting, it does stick the landing and has about as satisfying conclusion as it could.


What Sucks:

We've seen this movie before, and most of Dominika's mission isn't very engaging.  She is a trained seductress, but never gets around to much seduction.  The movie feels bloated and is overly long, and while it's never boring, it doesn't do anything new for the most part.  I tighter script would have helped.


Verdict:

I liked Red Sparrow, and while it's not the most original movie ever made, it does enough right with the over-the-top sex and violence, and the interesting training segments, as well as a very satisfying ending.  Go ahead and movie pass it if you like spy thrillers.  It's worth a watch.

 7/10: Good  


Comments

  1. Aadala MrsJune 21, 2018 at 9:24 PM

    Red Sparrow, Jennifer Lawrence's new flick, is about a ballet-dancer-turned-spy. Her uncle, a high ranking KGB type, exploits her after her dancing career is finished. She is first asked to steal a billionaire's phone. The task sounds easy, but turns out to be a nightmare. She lures the man into her hotel room, ends up getting raped (and you see pretty much of it), beaten, and then watches him get strangled by another Russian spy who sneaks into the room
    fandango
    And vexmovies

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