REVIEW: Red Sparrow

03/09/2018

 ★★★★

Since its release roughly a week ago, Red Sparrow has been getting fairly mixed reviews on the basis of some of the film's more controversial aspects, graphic scenes, and accusations of a muddled narrative. After seeing the film for myself, I just can't bring myself to agree with the majority--I actually really enjoyed this movie a lot. Driven by Jennifer Lawrence's dedicated performance and a plot that kept you on the edge of your seat, this is definitely not the film you'd expect from the man who directed most of the Hunger Games franchise.

Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballerina whose career tragically ends after a major injury. As the sole financial supporter of her sick mother, Dominika agrees to do a favour for her intelligence officer uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts). However, she soon finds herself with no choice to enlist in Sparrow School, where up-and-coming operatives are trained to use the powers of seduction. Before long, she is placed on a mission to learn more about CIA-operative Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) and uncover the identity of the mole he works with, but quickly finds herself questioning who she should really be trusting.

Many have had problems with Red Sparrow due to its relatively graphic nature, which is fair enough, but I personally found that it was suited to the nature of the film. However, it's definitely not a film for those who get turned off fairly easily by injury or violence. There were also issues surrounding the film's depictions of rape, but I never found that the plot tried to justify it by any means--in fact, much of the story's point was to do the exact opposite.

Even though the film was not centred on it, I found myself drawn to the romantic subplot between Dominika and Nate. Who doesn't want a tiny glimmer of sunshine in the midst of all that gruesomeness? It was handled well but never dominated the storyline, keeping audiences holding onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, things might work out for them.

The film was also well-done stylistically thanks to director Francis Lawrence, and was a pleasure to watch on screen. Another criticism has been that the film's substance was somewhat sacrificed for the sake of style, but I didn't find this to be the case at all--rather, the style was a wonderful compliment to the film's twists and turns. It reverts back to the style of the narrative-driven spy thriller as opposed to the action-based spy films that are all too common today, which, in my opinion, is reason enough to get immediately sucked into the world of Red Sparrow.

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