Red Sparrow (2018) Dir: Francis Lawrence
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If I'm being honest, I expected this 2018 Francis Lawrence directed espionage thriller to be nothing more than a 'Black Widow' origin story with way more nudity, and, unfortunately, that's kind of what it was. The film had a number of issues, but, in spite of that, it was not a complete waste of my time.
Visually speaking the film was acceptable, though unspectacular. It lacked any truly memorable sets, costumes or even establishing shots that would have perhaps set this one apart from the myriad of other spy films. The contemporary setting also feels a little jarring - the story screams Cold War espionage, but takes place long after such events taking place.
The lead actors had very little chemistry, and their relationship felt paper thin. Paper thin is a term that can also be attributed to the vast majority of the characters in the film. These issues, and others, are all ultimately caused by a rather haphazard and sloppy script. It tried too hard to deliver mystery, intrigue and plot twists, ehich turned out to be rather a clumsy attempt.
The screenplay tried to be clever, but ended up being way too convoluted for its own good. The story laboriously meanders its way from start to finish, and despite having over two hours to work with, failed to give its characters any depth or meaningful purpose.
Jennifer Lawrence certainly committed to her role, but she was let down by both the film's writing and her, at best, adequate Russian accent. I was impressed by a good deal of her acting, but I struggled to fully invest in her character, mainly due to the lack of depth surrounding her. It felt as though only her character had really been thought about in-depth.
Joel Edgerton had little to no personality or charisma, which meant that I had zero reason to take him seriously as a character. From his first scene, he felt like a poor casting choice. He is not a bad actor, but he was definitely not the right choice for this role.
Matthias Schoenaerts and Jeremy Irons each provide interesting, if a little disappointing portrayals of two key supporting characters. Schoenaerts does at least feel like a believable, if shallow, character, whereas Irons fails to provide much of a Russian accent to speak of, which was both distracting and irritating.
The film also had a couple of much smaller supporting performances that were at least worth noting, even if none of them were overly memorable - those coming from; Charlotte Rampling, Ciarán Hinds and Joely Richardson.
Overall, this film was, in spite of some positives, a disappointment. The film tries to justify its near-constant exploitative content, but ultimately just comes across like an overly sexual spy thriller that was written for men, by men. The film wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'll ever feel the need to watch it again.
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