RED SPARROW : Tuesday 6th March 2018.

'RED SPARROW' which I saw this week, here sees Francis Lawrence Directing this American spy thriller based on the 2013 book of the same name by former CIA operative Jason Matthews. Francis Lawrence is no stranger to big screen spectacle having Directed, amongst others, 'Constantine' with Keanu Reeves, 'I Am Legend' with Will Smith, 'The Hunger Games : Catching Fire' with Jennifer Lawrence and 'The Hunger Games : Mokingjay Parts 1 and 2' also with Jennifer Lawrence. Here he teams up with his namesake Jennifer Lawrence once again with the film going on general release around the world just over a week ago having cost US$69M, and having garnered mixed and average Reviews at best so far. The film has so far grossed US$55M in Box Office receipts.

The film centres around Russian and American espionage, the central figure of which is Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) a former prima ballerina forced into an uncertain future as a result of an injury that brings her chosen career to an abrupt halt. She lives with her ailing mother Nina (Joely Richardson) in a very modest apartment which is funded, together with her mothers medical expenses, by the ballet company for whom Dominika dances.

After corrective surgery to her lower leg, and feeling spent, she is approached by her Uncle Ivan (Matthias Schoenaerts) who works for the Russian Secret Service. He tasks her with seducing Russian Politician Dimitri Ustinov (Kristof Konrad) and switching his mobile phone with an identical state provided one, in exchange for which she can continue living in her apartment with her mother and all medical expenses covered, when this line of charity runs dry from the ballet company. Dominika must follow a fairly simple set of instructions, which she does. This leads to her being raped by Ustinov in her hotel room, but this is cut short by a garrotte around Ustinov's neck delivered at the hands of Simyonov (Sergej Onopko) slicing his throat open and killing him. After making a quick escape on motorcycle, Ivan reveals to Dominika that he had always intended to kill Ustinov and that she performed her job very well. But, Russian Intelligence rule that there can be no witnesses to such acts, and so she has a choice to make - either be executed, or begin a new career with Russian Intelligence.

Meanwhile Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) is a CIA operative working in Moscow. While meeting with a Russian asset (codenamed Marble) at night in Gorky Park, their meeting is interrupted by a random drive-by Police car. To protect his asset from detection, Nash creates a diversion in order that they can both evade capture and questioning. After a foot chase through the streets of downturn Moscow, Nash narrowly escapes, and is sent packing back to the US to explain his actions, and to be grounded. Nash spent three years nurturing his relationship and building up trust with Marble who has now gone underground and contact lost. As a result, Nash is reassigned to Budapest to reconnect with Marble.

In the meantime Dominika is packed off to 'Sparrow School' having made the correct decision. Here young men and woman are trained to seduce their targets using physical, mental and emotional cues to do so. Dominika excels at her studies largely at the hands of the 'Matron' - the Head of Sparrow School (Charlotte Rampling), although rebels at some of the elements of her training, including stripping naked in front of her classmates, and her willingness to being raped by a fellow trainee. Despite this she shows promise and is singled out by General Vladimir Korchnoi (Jeremy Irons) overseen by Colonel Zacharov (Ciaran Hinds) and assigned to Budapest to seek out Nate Nash, gain his confidence by whatever means necessary, and learn the identity of his asset.

In Budapest, Dominika shacks up with Marta (Thekla Reuten) and quickly makes contact with Nash at a local swimming pool where Nash regularly swims laps for his afternoon exercise. Nash works out pretty quickly that she is a Russian Intelligence operative, and she reveals her true identity to him and that she is wanting to gain the identity of his asset. One day while Marta is out, Dominika takes the opportunity to snoop through her bedroom. She uncovers a notebook in which is recorded the name of Stephanie Boucher (Mary-Louise Parker), a Chief-of-Staff for a US Senator and a sum of US$250,000, whom Marta is working with to gather information from.

Later, following a surprise visit from her Uncle Ivan, Dominika reveals her plan to secure secrets from Boucher, which is overheard by Marta who believes that she is trying to take control over her planned assignment. A few days later, Marta winds up very dead in her bathtub at home - her tortured mutilated murdered body laying blood soaked for Dominika to discover. Simyonov creeps up behind Dominika and reveals that he killed Marta as a warning not to divulge Russian secrets.

Dominika offers her services to Nash to work with the CIA as a double agent. She sees through Marta's planed assignment with Boucher and sets up a covert meeting in a London hotel room where several disks containing sensitive information will be exchanged for US$250,000 in cash, all the while monitored covertly by Nash and his team. The meeting goes off well, Boucher leaves the hotel room with her swag bag of cash, but is spooked by CIA operatives who move in too quickly and without the command, and is killed outright when she steps into the road and is mown down by a passing truck.

Dominika's Russian handler sees that the mission has been compromised, and she is whisked away quickly to Heathrow, then back to Russia where she is interrogated and tortured for seemingly compromising Boucher. She repeatedly denies this, and is subject to more beatings and torture. Ivan enters the room to deliver an ultimatum, but Dominika convinces her Uncle that her interrogation will give her credibility with the CIA, and as such she should be allowed to return to the field to complete her assignment. She returns to Budapest, and meets with Nash stating her desire to defect to the US with her mother.

Nash and Dominika spend the night together. The next morning Dominika awakens alone in bed, but with muffled sounds coming from the next room. She investigates to find Nash bound to a chair with Simyonov standing over him, demanding the identity of Marble or suffer the consequences at his torturous hands. Simyonov unravels and array of sharp instruments of torture. Dominika goes along with the ruse to show support of Simyonov and takes part in the torture, lulling him into  false sense of security, before she administers a crashing blow to his temple sending him reeling backwards. In the ensuing scuffle, Nash is able to free himself but by now Simyonov is on his feet slashing wildly away with a surgical blade at them both. Ultimately Dominika gains the upper hand and after repeatedly stabbing Simyonov administers the final blow with a blade into his neck.

Later, Dominika comes round in a hospital bed, with her wounds dressed. She ventures out of her private room to take stock of her location, and is greeted by General Korchnoi who reveals to her that he is in fact the mole, codenamed Marble. He explains that his anger and frustration by the deep rooted and ongoing corruptness of Russia led him to becoming a secret double agent. He further adds that she should reveal his identity to her Uncle, Ivan, and that her outing such a high ranking official will gain her instant promotion and set her up for a high profile career in Russian Intelligence, as well as continuing the work with the CIA that they are both secretly engaged in too. Back on Russian soil, Dominika makes contact with her superiors and advises them who the mole is, but instead of outing Korchnoi, she frames her Uncle Ivan instead who ultimately dies with a bullet to the head during a prisoner exchange overseen by Nash and the CIA. Dominika gains her reward of promotion and the recognition that goes with it, and returns home to care for her mother in the same apartment.

'Red Sparrow' joins the ranks of Russian/American international espionage thrillers that we see all too often, and in some cases done better. This offering does stand up on its own two feet, but be prepared to pay attention throughout as the plot twists and turns every which way and you'll need to concentrate on who's side who is on, why and when. The film is graphic in its violence and sexual violence and seems to rely all too heavily on putting the Jennifer Lawrence character through just about every degradation possible from torture through interrogation through rape (twice and almost a third time) through multiple beatings in between and bearing witness to some pretty grisly murders. The film at 140 minutes is also too long for the subject matter and could have been easily paired back to two hours without the padding and a little more straightforwardness. Despite this the films redeeming points are its cast, and this is Lawrence like we have never seen her before as she bares all (literally) to join the ranks of Angelina Jolie ('Salt') and Charlize Theron ('Atomic Blonde') as an action heroine, joined by an ensemble cast of fine acting talent that help levitate the film above a by the numbers offering. This is potentially the first film in a franchise of three, as author Jason Matthews has penned two further novels in the series. We'll see if the lessons learned from this first film transfer to any subsequent follow-up.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-