RED SPARROW
Lawrence), is based on the novel by retired CIA spook Jason Matthews, who racked up more than three decades of field experience. In the story of "Red Sparrow," poor but politically connected ballerina Dominika (Lawrence) is drawn into a shadowy spy world by her high-ranking SVR officer Uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts) after her dance career is ended with a “Showgirls”-style sabotage.
He uses her as bait for one of his targets. With a dead businessman’s blood on her skin and no way to support herself or her ailing mother, she accepts his offer to train as a “Sparrow” — a spy who uses sex and seduction to psychologically manipulate and collect information from her targets.
Dominika quickly flames out at Sparrow school — she simultaneously resists and
complies with the sadistic headmistress played by Charlotte Rampling. But she proves her mettle with a would-be rapist, destroying him physically and mentally.
She’s a natural, it turns out, so she’s sent to Budapest for her first gig, to gain the trust of a U.S. spy named Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton), who has been receiving intel
from a mole buried deep in the ranks of Russian security.
Francis Lawrence’s filmmaking in “Red Sparrow” is as seductive as the movie's heroine; he creates gorgeous compositions in a palette of red and gray, knit together with seamless editing.
The film is beautiful to watch but empty and meaningless. The sensational images add up to a whole lot of provocation, but they’re wholly lacking in substance.
Matthew’s book offers promises of authenticity, but what comes through in Justin Laythe’s script and the casting choices — there are no recognizably Russian actors on-screen and bad accents abound — is just a hollow caricature of Russia, wrapped up in a plot that’s both overly convoluted and dull.
It’s difficult to enjoy watching Dominika seduce and destroy because she’s acting against her will, forced to be a Sparrow to keep her mother cared for.
In “Atomic Blonde,” Theron’s Lorraine was a professional who did her job and had fun with it. Dominika, despite her mysterious talent for this line of work, is ultimately a victim, pimped out by her uncle, pressed into sexual service for the state.
There’s nothing empowering about the character or her story.
Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika with a placid poker face to preserve her secrets and the script's — we never know when she’s being sincere and with whom, and it’s all in service of keeping the twists and turns in place. We can't relate to her, understand her or get on her side. Her only motivation is her sick mother, but that subplot is overly shallow.
Lawrence struggles against her role while also taking to it like a duck to water, and we never know who she is.
Maybe that’s the idea, and we’re all just victims of the Red Sparrow herself.