*** outta *****

3 outta 5

Red Sparrow is a Cold War thriller that isn’t set in the Cold War era and there are fairly long stretches without anything particularly thrilling.  Directed by Francis Lawrence, who made I Am Legend and the last three Hunger Games movies, the film is very pretty although the pace lags considerably.  Sure, this is mostly concerning spies who keep their emotions in check but sometimes they seem half asleep.

While there are some crunchy, quick moments of violence here, there isn’t as much chaos as a blockbuster spy movie would promise. It’s mostly about the main character using seductive feminine willies to get information. Also keeping track of who is trying to double cross who is a bit futile but most spy movies get too convoluted for their own good anyway.  Still, it does have some cool moments, even if it’s about 30 minutes too long. 

Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence) is a Russian dancer who is deliberately injured by her coworkers so she beats them to a bloody pulp.  Her Russian intelligence operative uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts) offers her a job to join a spy agency, the Red Sparrows, who use seduction to get information from targets.  After training at a secret academy she is sent into the field and runs into an American CIA agent, Nash (Joel Edgerton) who wants to turn her for information.  Soon Dominika doesn’t know who to trust and may be playing both sides as bodies and secrets pile up. 

There are some nifty scenes here, like the opening that intercuts from Dominika performing ballet to Nash distracting Russian goons from picking up his spy contact, climaxing in Nash escaping to the U.S. Embassy and Dominika getting in a brutal accident. The scene where Dominika takes her revenge upon the people who ended her dancing career is very disturbing, dark, and cathartic. The most harrowing scene is when a character ends up in a particularly nasty situation with a sadistic torturer complete with a close quarters knife fight. 

These are gory bits that give the movie a sense that violence can erupt at any moment.  The problem is most of the film is a bit too slowly paced.  Multiple times, Lawrence’s character wakes up startled after either being knocked out or falling asleep and it kind of gets repetitive.   At least Lawrence delivers a few variations upon waking up to keep it interesting.

One of Lawrence’s best tools is her liveliness.  However, Red Sparrow sort of strips her of that as Dominika is supposed to keep her emotions concealed.  It’s not the most engaging performance from a generally engaging performer however she does throw in small bits of emotion peeking at the edges.  Dominika is often asked to disrobe and looks shocked about it which is a bit that also wears thin. She’s given a back story that she’s doing horrible things to take care of her sickly mother which is fairly cliché. The scenes of her at the Red Sparrow academy are attempting to be disturbingly sensual but it comes off as a bit campy. One of her best lines is when she comes back from her training and snaps at her uncle “You sent me to whore school!” which has some of the bite that Lawrence brings to her roles. It could have used more of that as opposed to her being stone faced most of the time.  Lawrence has such a distinctive voice that her Russian accent is decent but a bit wobbly. 

Edgerton as the CIA spy plays things determined, although the crux of the film is if the two are falling in love which is pretty dopey because she’s a spy meant to use sex as a tool and he’s a CIA operative who should know better.  Schoenaerts as the uncle is such a leering creep that there isn’t anything else there.  As the headmaster at the Red Sparrow school, Charlotte Rampling has a good introductory speech as she states that the cold war never ended but instead splintered into a thousand pieces.  Afterwards, she just kind of glares and tells Dominika to do sex stuff for her country.  Jeremy Irons plays a Russian general and if Lawrence’s Russian accent is wobbly, Irons’ accent is a bizarre mix of British and vaguely Russian. 

Adding a well needed dose of levity and humour in an exceptionally dour film is Mary-Louise Parker as a fairly dim and fairly intoxicated US informant that Dominika has to meet.  Parker gets to act drunk, annoyed, and breezy about committing high treason which is really hilarious and a highlight of the movie.  Although it is incredibly weird that she’s tossing out state secrets on old floppy discs; how did she get them and how could anyone read them? 

While this is set in the present day, it still looks and feels like a chilly ‘80s era Cold War movie.  Red Sparrow is not a great film but there’s great stuff in it.  Not a lot but enough.  Even though it drags too long for an hour and 20 minute running time, the bits where it sparks to life are worthwhile. It’s not the most exciting spy movie ever but it is a watchable one.