Choking on red herrings

the set-up, none of the substance, very little pay-off.

And it is a shame because the acting performances are excellent. Lawrence, as always, is remarkable as Dominika, a fascinating character, but one who is never fully explored. The story seems more fixated on showing us how much rape and torture she can bravely tolerate, rather than any actual development.

Edgerton is also excellent, crafting a believable character out of the weirdly confused writing around him: for all the talk of him drinking too much, I’m pretty sure we never see him so much as touch a glass.

And for all the story’s overly dense machinations, the twists, when they come, always feel sadly obvious. Even the film’s coup de grace in the final act is barely worth calling a “surprise twist”. Rather, it is a disappointingly obvious piece of conspiracy wrapped up in a flat finale.

Red Sparrow probably suffers from taking itself too seriously. Director Francis Lawrence was a director of music video clips until he helmed the rather fun Constantine in 2005, then going on to direct a number rather good feature films, including three Hunger Games movies.

So maybe he was trying a bit too hard to do a “serious drama”, and accidentally bled all the life out of it. I don’t know.

But I do know Red Sparrow is a terminally slow-moving spy flick that would have been more thrilling if its less-thanmind-blowing twists had been played out with a bit more pace.

(MA15+) is now showing at Village Cinemas, the State Cinema and Cmax. Rating: