RED SPARROW

then shatters her character’s soul when she thinks no one is looking, in the service of a tightly woven narrative, threaded with betrayal and double-crosses.

Crucially, it’s mainly women who decide grim fates, employing guile and intelligence to outwit men in suits and uniforms.

Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) is a prima ballerina dancing to finance the medical care of her mother ( Joely Richardson).

She suffers a horrendous injury and months later, Dominika receives an unwelcome visit from her uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts), deputy director of the Russian Intelligence Service.

He press-gangs his niece into the secret Sparrow project, which moulds attractive recruits into weaponised assets to strike at the heart of Western governments. But before Dominika can complete her training, she is despatched to Budapest to dupe seasoned CIA operative Nathaniel Nash (Joel Edgerton), the only person who knows the identity of a mole in the Kremlin.

But Nash is wise to the plan and believes he can turn Dominika against her country.

Red Sparrow is a muscular and engrossing thriller which revels in the tantalising disconnect between actions and words.

Screenwriter Justin Haythe concentrates on visualising mind games and power plays that leave us in the dark about characters’ ulterior motives.

The film soars on the wings of Lawrence’s fearless performance with sterling support from Edgerton. Unravelling the mysteries of Francis Lawrence’s puzzle picture is a nail-biting treat.