Red Sparrow

Vanya Egorov

Charlotte Rampling is rather menacingly calculating in this otherwise rather dreary espionage thriller. She is the matron of a school where acclaimed ballet dancer turned agent "Dominika" (Jennifer Lawrence) is being sent to learn how to use sex (and sexuality) as weapons of war. After a pretty squeamish (best not say sticky) start, she gets into her stride and is soon on the trail of her CIA target "Nash" (Joel Edgerton). Of course it isn't going to be straightforward as loyalties are tested, she hasn't really a clue whom she can trust and - yes, it does all sound a bit familiar doesn't it? I am afraid I just could not get "Hunger Games" out of my head for most of this and the starkness of the sexual brutality wore very thin very quickly - rendering the remainder of the film quite sterile and frankly, rather dull and repetitive as she proceeds to try to entrap her quarry and discover who his Soviet sources are. It is poorly paced, I felt, and at over 2¼ hours long it seemed to drag interminably once we, the audience, had sort of put two and two together. Edgerton is a competent actor, and the easy on the eye Matthias Schoenaerts adds a little complexity to the plot, but I am afraid, otherwise, this is a long and rather lacklustre outing for a star far from her best delivering a story that is most definitely not John le Carré.