Red Sparrow

2018 spy thriller

Rating: 11/20

Plot: A ballerina is trained as a spy and sent on a mission to uncover the identity of a mole.

This movie felt like it was seven hours long, and like all spy movies, I never felt like I had the same grasp on what was going on that the rest of the people watching this movie did.

Another cinephile weakness of mine is knowing whether or not a performer's fake accent is good enough. I know a couple of Russians, and they kind of talk like Jennifer Lawrence does in this movie. I think she's a good actress, but I thought this performance was a little uneven. Or maybe the character was uneven. She was a little too stoic at times. I never really believed in the character, and without buying what they're selling with this central character, this movie just doesn't have much of a chance to work.

Note: When I say that I "know a couple of Russians," I don't mean in a Trump way. I mean, I've never had a Russian urinate on me or anything.

I'm not sure if the big twist was supposed to be as predictable as it was. Without giving anything away, there was this visual cue that really spelled everything out. It was so obvious that I actually thought I was being tricked into guessing incorrectly. Maybe, since the movie knows I'm incapable of understanding spy movies anyway, it was tricking me into thinking I was being tricked so that it could trick me into not thinking what I originally thought. If so, well played, Red Sparrow. Well played.

This wasn't really an enjoyable movie. There are stylistic flashes, and Jennifer Lawrence is naked in there. Unfortunately, those scenes were impossible to enjoy because of the context. A lot of this movie is like that actually. It's kind of like an animal you're getting ready to dissect. In its plastic package, it doesn't look so bad. Cutting open this dead animal might be an adventure. Then you remove it from that plastic, and there's a slime covering the thing and a sickening formaldehyde stench. But you figure, "I'll get past this, slice open this animal, and investigate what it's all about." And then it's just smooshy viscera. Like that, this is pretty unpleasant.

I did like the score, however. That's James Newton Howard.