Red Sparrow * * *
This film teams up the two Lawrence's again - Jennifer and Francis (they're not related). Jennifer was the star of the four Hunger Games films and Francis was the director of three of them.
Maybe the trusting relationship between the two Lawrence's is why Jennifer has agreed to some rather explicit scenes in this film. The drama demands it, so she delivers it. So it is a shame she has been let down by wavering and inconsistent story telling.
Ironically, one of the qualities I admired about the Hunger Games films was the clarity of story. I had never read any of the books but it didn't matter, as all four films conveyed a lucid and clear narrative - unlike this, which left me irritated with the unfolding of the plot - who? what? where?
Jennifer plays Dominika, a Russian ballerina who is recruited by her wicked uncle to work for the secret service. She has to do it because an "accident" means she can't dance anymore and her mother is sick and needs medicine. (I don't know too much about Russia, but what I do know is a sick person without money is more likely to be left to die in the USA than in Russia). Overall the film does not paint a very kind picture of the Russians. It suggests that they are not too kind to their folks and happy to recruit them and force them into the most self-degrading things for the sake of Mother Russia - or in the case of Dominika, for the sake of her own sick Mother.
She is to be a "Sparrow", which means she will be one of the hotties who are trained to use their good looks to entrap, or get information from the other side through seduction. The classroom training period struck me as a bit far fetched with it's explicit sexuality, and seemed to be more for our lascivious entertainment than a reflection of reality. (Incidentally, I can never figure out how spies can be trained to seduce but never to resist seduction. I mean, if someone who looks like J.L. came on to you in a bar wouldn't your alarm bells start ringing?)
Once she is in the field she meets one of her targets, a CIA spy (Josh Edgerton) - he's more of a scruff than a Bond - who she gets on with - and gets it on with in a dreadful sex scene. But she is his target too.
It's a visually beautiful film, everything looks a bit gorgeous, especially the interiors, and to be honest the photography and locations is what I enjoyed most about Red Sparrow. The hotel rooms make James Bond look as though he is on a tight budget.
Here is something weird too: Everything in this film is "today" - the cars, the mobile phones, the laptops, so I'm damned if I could figure out why critical information was on 3 1/2" floppy's. It might have been explained, but I missed it. But none of the spies complained or said, "We can't read this old shit!" It would have served them right to find it incomprehensible. I'd say, "Now you know how I feel".
Maybe the trusting relationship between the two Lawrence's is why Jennifer has agreed to some rather explicit scenes in this film. The drama demands it, so she delivers it. So it is a shame she has been let down by wavering and inconsistent story telling.
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| Nice room hey? |
Jennifer plays Dominika, a Russian ballerina who is recruited by her wicked uncle to work for the secret service. She has to do it because an "accident" means she can't dance anymore and her mother is sick and needs medicine. (I don't know too much about Russia, but what I do know is a sick person without money is more likely to be left to die in the USA than in Russia). Overall the film does not paint a very kind picture of the Russians. It suggests that they are not too kind to their folks and happy to recruit them and force them into the most self-degrading things for the sake of Mother Russia - or in the case of Dominika, for the sake of her own sick Mother.
She is to be a "Sparrow", which means she will be one of the hotties who are trained to use their good looks to entrap, or get information from the other side through seduction. The classroom training period struck me as a bit far fetched with it's explicit sexuality, and seemed to be more for our lascivious entertainment than a reflection of reality. (Incidentally, I can never figure out how spies can be trained to seduce but never to resist seduction. I mean, if someone who looks like J.L. came on to you in a bar wouldn't your alarm bells start ringing?)
Once she is in the field she meets one of her targets, a CIA spy (Josh Edgerton) - he's more of a scruff than a Bond - who she gets on with - and gets it on with in a dreadful sex scene. But she is his target too.
It's a visually beautiful film, everything looks a bit gorgeous, especially the interiors, and to be honest the photography and locations is what I enjoyed most about Red Sparrow. The hotel rooms make James Bond look as though he is on a tight budget.
Here is something weird too: Everything in this film is "today" - the cars, the mobile phones, the laptops, so I'm damned if I could figure out why critical information was on 3 1/2" floppy's. It might have been explained, but I missed it. But none of the spies complained or said, "We can't read this old shit!" It would have served them right to find it incomprehensible. I'd say, "Now you know how I feel".
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