Spy-thriller with Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton shows fangs and intrigue with this Red Sparrow review by Earl Maghirang of thefanboyseo.com. Now Showing in theaters nationwide, distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Credits: 20th Century Fox Philippines

To be honest, I dozed off at some parts of the movie but I don’t think its bad-bad.

Jennifer Lawrence plays ballerina turned femme fatale Dominika Egorova who was forcefully recruited to join as she refers to it “whore school” where she learns how to manipulate feelings, extraction information and all that with the use of her body and her charms. She gets sent over to extract a name from CIA operative Nate Nash but that gets thrown out the window because she wants revenge and freedom and she feels like Nate is her ticket to getting either one or both.

This Francis Lawrence flick is mature as mature can be. We’re dealing with spies here but we don’t get James Bond. We get Mother Russia and her not-so-glamorous approach at information and counter-spying. We get drab discussions and surprisingly, not a lot of expositions and hand holding. That’s the beauty of how the screenplay for Red Sparrow was developed. You need to be quick on your toes otherwise, you’ll be scratching your head. But is it intelligently done? Yeah.

So what’s the problem? For me, I feel like the movie wanted to be a lot of things for a lot of people. Is it a political drama? could be. Spy Thriller? Could be. Action? Not so much. Exposition film or propaganda film? Could be again.

So many elements scattered making for some serious questioning of how to frame it in your mind. That’s one of two red flags for me.

The second one has to be with how the pacing was done. Sure, they wanted to develop a suspenseful atmosphere but do we need it to be THAT long? And the pay-off’s not so good? Sad.

Not a biggie for me but could be a biggie for somebody else or one of the readers of this Red Sparrow review. The film depicts alot of sexual violence and sexual assault. It depicts torture and rape. It depicts sex scenes and violence against women. Wake up though, this actually happens in the real world. All I’m saying is that if these topics and concepts trigger you, you have a warning.

The film has a few strengths though.

Jennifer Lawrence is THE star of the movie. Angry and stoic at times, this is a different role for the formerly “mutant and proud” Hollywood A-Lister. It’s also the third movie where she’s getting one-upped by men. (First there was Passengers and then mother! and now Red Sparrow). I’m also shocked that there’s nudity here and its not the fleeting kind; the camera kinda lingers there for a bit.

Edgerton and Irons, both respected men in the industry did a great job. Convincing acting and they had great moments throughout the movie too. I just can’t believe that Edgerton is also Jacobi in “Bright” to be honest. But the guy’s an awesome actor, I definitely adding him to the list of actors whose movies I need to check or not-miss-at-all.

Red Sparrow Review – Verdict

This could be a stealth Black Widow movie; or a prototype. Remember how Focus was a prototype to check screen chemistry for Will Smith and Margot Robbie for Suicide Squad, it feels like the same thing. The movie’s brutal and dark. It has its moments but really for me, the confusion of what it wants to be plus the pacing got to me first. I’m actually surprised myself that these gripes meant more than some of the cringe inducing scenes towards the end. Or the gore. Or the violent torture.

6/10