Review of Red Sparrow (2018) by Adrian D — 11 Mar 2018

3 Star Review:

Red Sparrow tells the story of Dominika, a Russian ballerina, who one day suddenly finds herself without the means to support her mother after a freak accident during one of her shows forces her to quit. Dominika's uncle (a Russian secret intelligence operative) offers her a chance at becoming a Red Sparrow for Mother Russia, where she is trained in the art of seduction and espionage to obtain secret intel for the Russian government. Her training eventually leads to her first mission: To manipulate and gain the trust of an American CIA agent in order to get him to reveal the name of his informant hidden within the Russian secret service itself. The premise is all there to make for an absolute spy thriller but instead gets muddled with a slow paced script that fails to build on the tension the film brings. The narrative does get a bit confusing at times which ultimately made the twist at the end feel a bit lost. This is also not a movie for the feint of heart as there are multiple gruesome scenes throughout the film that will surely make you squirm a bit either from the sheer grossness or from its brutality. All in all, the film is a good film but its narrative ultimately prevents it from being a great film.