DREAD ‘SPARROW’
“Do you know how long it takes to peel the skin from a human body?” a torture-happy Russian goon asks in “Red Sparrow.” I imagine it feels about as long as sitting through this atrocious spy thriller, in which Jennifer Lawrence plays a prima ballerina who goes to whore school.
I’m not kidding. The film’s unquestionable high point is Lawrence’s character bellowing the accusing line in her Boris-and-Natasha accent: “You sent me to whore school!”
Other than this “Showgirls”-esque howler and Mary-Louise Parker’s amusing turn as a drunk, corrupt American senator’s aide, there’s little reason to recommend “Red Sparrow” — a throwback to old Hollywood in its belief that rape and violence are the best ways to create a heroine with backbone. Director Francis Lawrence (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”) makes a hash of the already convoluted plot (based on a novel by Jason Matthews) and wastes a lead who’s capable of being this year’s “Atomic Blonde” (she even gets a platinum dye job halfway through).
But Lawrence is mostly required to be eye candy, despite her character’s past as a lead in the Bolshoi Ballet. You’d think all that training might come in handy, but director Lawrence (no relation) never lets her use her dancer’s legs to strangle even one bad guy. What gives?
We meet Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) as she’s headlining the ballet and caring for her ailing mama (Joely Richardson), but her career is scuttled when a careless male dancer breaks her leg. Strapped for cash, Dominika agrees to be a spy and soon finds herself shipped off to Sparrow School, where the state trains nubile men and women in espionage via seduction. When Dominika fends off a near-rape by one of her classmates, she’s punished by having to strip naked in front of a class.
A prestigious cast keep straight faces here, including Jeremy Irons as a Russian official and Charlotte Rampling as the severe matron of the Sparrows. Joel Edgerton plays a CIA operative who thinks he can flip Dominika. Cue double-crossing and a hilariously bad sex scene.
A decent eleventh-hour twist isn’t enough to redeem what’s come before, which the film would have you see as a righteous indictment of Russia’s corruption and misogyny. Too bad it resembles countless bad sexploitation flicks set right here at home. Running time: 139 minutes. Rated R (sex, violence, profanity). Now playing.