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RED SPARROW (2018) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

RED SPARROW (2018) movie

Genre | Spy-Fi Thriller

Classification | MA 15+

Running time | 100+ minutes

Released | 1 March 2018

cast

Jennifer Lawrence ... Dominika Egorova
Joel Edgerton ... Nathaniel Nash
Mary-Louise Parker ... Stephanie Boucher
Ciarán Hinds ... Zyugonov
Jeremy Irons ... Korchnoi
Charlotte Rampling

director

Francis Lawrence

writer

Justin Haythe ... (screenplay) &
Jason Matthews ... (novel)

cinematographer

Jo Willems

music

James Newton Howard

film editor

Alan Edward Bell

box office result

Worldwide $? million

Australia $? million

North America $? million

the best dialogue

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RED SPARROW (2018) MOVIE IMAGES

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RED SPARROW (2018) STORY SYNOPSIS

Dominika Egorova is many things.
A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs.
A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit.
A master of seductive and manipulative combat.

When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.

RED SPARROW (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty | Review date 28 February 2018
Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

RED SPARROW aspires to deliver something different for moviegoers seeking an alternative to the comic book shenanigans that have been the hallmark of recent Spy-Fi cinematic outings...

The film, which sees HUNGER GAMES franchise Star and Director reunite, is a world away from the Sci-Fi setting of their previous feature films, but the theme of “individual will” is still central to the story they wish to tell. Audiences may recall, the further Jennifer Lawrence and Francis Lawrence went with Katniss Everdeen in the HUNGER GAMES movies, the greater the focus became on the psychological battle between Katniss and Donald Sutherland’s malevolent President Snow. RED SPARROW charts similar territory but uses a contemporary geopolitical setting for the film’s main character to play her arc against.

Lawrence is Dominika Egorova, a former dancer whose career is cut short as a result of a brutal betrayal by her partner. Suffering a horrific leg injury, Dominika is forced into Russian state service to guarantee her ailing Mother (Joely Richardson) continues to receive the right medical care for her ongoing illness.

Dominika is coerced by her Uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts), a senior Russian intelligence officer, into becoming an undercover operative dubbed a “Sparrow”. The “Sparrow” academy, under the commanding presence of the Matron (Charlotte Rampling), is a place where young Russian spies are psychologically and physically broken and then reshaped into individuals capable of all manner of deceit. Despite being at odds with Matron on most matters, Dominika displays qualities and commitment that catch the eye of her Uncle’s superiors and she is soon despatched to ply her skills.

From the outset, RED SPARROW flirts with the conceit that Dominika needs no encouragement to be the best at whatever she does. The implication of this conceit is that she is genetically predetermined to hold firm to her ideals and is prepared to ruthlessly defend them when challenged. The story does a great job of setting this up early, as Dominika accepts her Uncle’s offer to maintain her and her Mother’s lifestyle. Dominika resists and makes every effort to seem different to those around her, but everytime she encounters her Uncle the story makes the point that there’s an underlying genetic trait within her family toward cold, calculating manipulation.

Parallel to Dominika’s arc is CIA Agent Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton). In spite of the corny sounding name, Nash is an experienced field agent who is forced to flee Moscow at the beginning of the film after he and his “Mole” narrowly avert arrest during an exchange in Gorky Park. The CIA reassign Nash to Budapest in an effort to have their Russian double agent reestablish the lines of communication.

Dominika’s first “Sparrow” assignment sees her head to Budapest with the aim of discovering the identity of the Russian traitor…

RED SPARROW is a slow-burn movie and, at times, extremely confronting. Characters endure various forms of physical and psychological duress in an effort to break their sense of self. Those who, at first, resist and then push back are the winners.

Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as Dominika. The performer in Lawrence has been tucked away for a couple of years, as her association with the X-MEN franchise seems to have taken precedence, with less focus on marquee roles. While it’s always fun to see her in that funky blue get-up, the chance for her to flex her acting skill makes RED SPARROW different to the vast majority of “Spy-Fi” movies that get a mainstream release. Compared to James Bond, for example, it’s fair to say that audiences will know more about Dominika after 140 minutes than their favourite British Secret Agent in spite of his 26 cinematic adventures! The closest recent cinema has come to providing as complete a character study as Dominika can be found in the first three Matt Damon BOURNE movies. RED SPARROW opts to put its brains before its brawn. Foremost, Lawrence plays Dominika as complex, subtle and seductive (when required). She’s physical when she needs to be, but, for the most part, she’s intellectual; thinking about how far ahead she needs to be of those who might get in the way of her mission.

Joel Edgerton as Nate is a great foil for Lawrence. The Australian has turned into one of cinema’s best character actors, yet he has screen presence that sees him share the same space with Lawrence without being overwhelmed. Edgerton’s additional benefit is his physical presence. He’s in reasonable enough shape to get involved in the rough stuff. One sequence in the film’s second half will be difficult for some audience members to watch, due to a three-way knife fight, but Edgerton goes as hard as he can to sell the authenticity of the scene.

The supporting cast is also pretty impressive...

Matthias Schoenaerts is effectively creepy as Dominika’s Uncle Vanya. Hiding behind a cloak of patriotism, Vanya plays Devil’s advocate in appealing to his niece’s vulnerability about the guilt she has in providing for her sick mother. Vanya uses this to his advantage, knowing full well that Dominika’s combination of brains, determination and beauty will serve her well as a “Sparrow”. He also knows it will serve him well to have her in his debt. There’s an ongoing undercurrent of sexual tension between Vanya and Dominika; mostly on his part, but Dominika plays on her Uncle’s unhealthy desire to manipulate him at critical points in the story. This chemistry adds a subtext to his character that makes him even more menacing and morally repugnant. The only gripe about Schoenaerts’ character is his “look”. Someone in the Makeup Department thought it was a good idea to have him appear as a Vladimir Putin clone. It may have sounded like a good idea at the time, but it’s just a little too “on the nose”.

Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Rampling help add distinction to the cast. It may be best left to genuine citizens to judge how accurate their accents are, but there’s something almost hypnotising listening to Irons drag that voice of his across words and letters in an effort to make his character sound like an authentic Russian. The man has a voice that enthralls; no matter what the accent.

Perhaps the most impressive feat of RED SPARROW is the way in which Francis Lawrence and Screenwriter Justin Haythe distill Jason Matthews’ book of the same name. Matthews is a former CIA operative and the book uses his experience as the basis for the story. Works such as RED SPARROW must be difficult to adapt because the detail of reality clouds the ambition of fiction. Much of the late Tom Clancy’s writing suffered this fate upon being adapted for movie and television. Haythe and Lawrence avoid this trap by keeping their story focussed entirely upon Dominika. The story is rife with subplots and, in lesser hands, the film could have been a jumble of competing characters and stories, all clamouring for attention. Thanks to Lawrence duo, RED SPARROW is fixed firm on Dominika, delivering a Spy-Fi Thriller that eschews gadgets and machismo for genuine emotion driven not by the need to “save the world”, but by the much simpler desire to survive long enough to fight another day!