Review of Red Sparrow (2018) by Greg C — 04 Mar 2018

She "ran the whole gamut of emotions from A to B." - Dorothy Parker. Welcome back to old days of the red scare. This odd flick is a classic style espionage movie that tries to be a superhero movie, and doesn't quite make the leap.

It takes itself a too seriously and resultantly is a bit dour. The movie hangs on believing that Jennifer Lawrence's character desperately desires to ensure that her ailing mother gets medical care and has a place to live.

But J. Law lets us down. Her Dominque is a spy who does allow people inside her "true" self, and so we are left with an unease about where her real alliances are. There was a similar issue with last 2017's Atomic Blonde.

There just little there in the way of facial expressions. There are a few bold moments of nudity and titillation, but a movie they do not make. The movie looks pretty good for some fairly dreary eastern European locales.

The grand interiors are gorgeous locations. There are superior supporting performances by Jeremy Irons and Matthias Schoenaerts. The standout is Charlotte Rampling as The Matron. I wanted more screen time of her, and then maybe to see her do something badass, because that dark energy was roiling below the surface.

Ultimately Red Sparrow needed to have a little more humor, with a nod and wink to the audience so that we know that our lead sparrow is deftly ahead of the opponents, no matter how dire things appear.

Now I want Guy Ritchie to do a Man from Uncle 2.