Red Sparrow

Dominika, a former ballerina, has been trained in a spy school and has become a professional seductress. Now she is tasked with getting close to an American agent and discovering who in Russian intelligence is passing him information. But her mission is complicated by her superiors and perhaps her true feelings. Red Sparrow is a rather intimate spy thriller, and a bit too long. It tries to be sexy and provocative, most of the time it’s uncomfortably aloof, cold, and unnecessarily plodding. And not very entertaining. (27.07.2018)

Red Sparrow relate the tale of how a young ballerina, Jennifer Lawrence, became the best Russian spy overnight, of course after undergoing a training program for juvenile recruits at an ethically controversial Russian institute called “The Sex Games”. The movie is totally failed attempt at an atmospheric and refined cold-war thriller with a romantic storyline. A wannabe clever espionage drama where the chemistry between the Russian agent and her American counterpart is too feeble to serve as the movie’s sole foundation. It offers nothing else in its long runtime – neither thriller-like suspense nor action. With her baby face, Lawrence is the casting fuck-up of the year. Matthias Schoenaerts is the only one who gives a believable acting performance; he even looks like Putin! The music “inspired” by Goldsmith’s Basic Instinct is supposed to evoke a seductive sexual tone. The similarly conceived Atomic Blonde, which doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, is the clear winner here. (04.03.2018)

A solid, old-school-style spy thriller. The director, Lawrence, knows what he’s doing, everything looks great and the big budget is obvious, but the pace is very slow and sometimes unnecessary twists drain the movie's power. Jennifer is appropriately stiff or even machine-like (so much that you wonder how much she’s just acting), but at the same time incredibly unattractive – nobody would want to get in her bed. The controversial nude scene really is superfluous and the movie could have done without it. Howard’s music is great. And Schoenaerts really does look a bit like Putin. (07.09.2019)

I get it, Jennifer Lawrence was meant to play a completely merciless and emotionless murderer. It’s a shame she is like that in most of her movies. Another issue I saw in the fact that it is an espionage thriller, but at the end I was thoroughly confused about what happened. For an espionage thriller there was extremely little suspense and action, so during those two and a half hours I almost wondered whether to cook dinner or start dusting. Luckily it was saved by the great beauty of Jennifer, and her two acting colleagues – Joel Edgerton and Matthias Schoenaerts. I respect them so I finished to movie to the end and I admit that it is at least average. (14.07.2018)

Sexy Jennifer Lawrence in an erotically cool spy thriller. I definitely think that if David Fincher had been in charge (he was supposed to direct it) it would have been a bigger hit, but it's still a decent thriller that isn't afraid of nudity and blood. Jennifer Lawrence is very sexy here and shows up full frontal naked, which will please many a male eye, as will the traditionally excellent Joel Edgerton. The hard training Jennifer undergoes in Russia to become a Red Sparrow is filmed very effectively, the psychological weight and erotic tension is omnipresent. At times the 140-minute running time drags in certain sequences and some editing wouldn't hurt, but I didn't find myself downright bored. The final torture and the denouement are excellent. A solid film that avoids the mainstream thanks to its eroticism and brutality and offers an unconventional story that hasn't been in cinemas for a while. 75% (15.03.2018)