Red Sparrow

The book, that 'Red Sparrow' is adapted from, is brilliant. It is very complex, but also very clever, suspenseful, intelligent and fun. As well as loving the book, the main reason for seeing 'Red Sparrow' was the cast which is a talented one and while not being blown away by the advertising it left me intrigued.

After seeing it, 'Red Sparrow' turned out to be a decent film in my opinion that flies high enough, but falls short of being great (like it could easily have been) meaning it doesn't quite soar. As an adaptation, it is a laudable one. The book is very difficult to adapt, but the film condenses it while still adhering to the spirit of the source material and what makes it so good and still making sense.

It is to me much better than the mixed critical reviews, while sharing a few of the criticisms, and is not a 1/10 film. A rating only reserved by me for films that have no redeeming qualities and don't try. 'Red Sparrow' does try and has a lot going for it, while being problematic, if anything leaning slightly towards the trying too hard side of the spectrum.

'Red Sparrow' has a very elaborate and suitably challenging story with plenty of twists and turns, the most shocking being the ending which will confound some but like with me haunt others. Luckily it is executed with a suitably cold and suspenseful touch, while having the intelligence to be involving and not taking itself overly seriously. A lot goes on and it's very complex content, yet the story doesn't feel too convoluted if perhaps over-stuffed in places.

Visually, 'Red Sparrow' looks great. In particular the scenery, landscapes and locations, which are wondrous and have such a lot of atmosphere and beauty. Made just as striking by the stylish photography, where the cold look suits the tone and subject very well, and slick editing. The music has its share of tension without intruding too much.

Script is smart and thought-provoking, again being challenging and elaborate enough without being too over-complicated. Francis Lawrence directs with cool confidence and personally that the violence and torture weren't that gratuitous, they are not for the faint-hearted certainly but for the subject the brutality was needed, is not overdosed upon and added to the full horrors of the situation.

Most of the cast come over very well. Jennifer Lawrence, hated a lot on IMDb but for me one of the better actresses today under 30, is in one of her most demanding roles here and she is not taxed by it at all and gives it everything, commanding the screen with ease. Frosty Charlotte Rampling, authoritative Jeremy Irons and menacing Matthias Schoenarts support her just as strongly.

For all those strengths, there are drawbacks. 'Red Sparrow' is a little overlong by about 15-20 minutes and there are times where the pace loses its tautness. Agree that the characters tend to be one-dimensional and although the cast are mostly very good the accents are less than great.

Joel Edgerton is out of his depth sadly too, having neither the charm or the intensity for such a role. He and Lawrence have very little chemistry, sexually or otherwise, meaning that the more intimate scenes lack sensuality.

Overall though, a decent and better than expected film but something was missing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Great plot - great twists - gritty - great acting by Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton. Amongst the best spy thrillers I have seen. Very satisfying conclusion.

I read a lot of negative reviews of this before I saw it, and although I was fascinated I was also dreading the horrifying torture scenes I'd heard about. But when I did see it myself I found it interesting, although I wish that it had been faster paced. I'd never seen a character quite like Dominika before. She was much more interesting than "Salt" and much more real than "Atomic Blonde". The characters were very memorable and believable and I am glad that I saw the film.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD. While it is a bit long at 2+ hours it is told in an interesting manner and never seemed too long.

We both remarked that is has similarities to "La Femme Nikita" where a young lady with natural cunning is given a choice, but her only means of survival is to accept the job working for the agency.

Jennifer Lawrence is Russian ballet star Dominika Egorova. A tragic accident happens at the end of a performance, ending her career. But she gets a chance, really an order, to train as a Sparrow, which she terms a high class whore. To size up targets and infiltrate as a spy by giving them what they need.

As it turns out one target is Joel Edgerton as American spy Nate Nash, hustled out of Moscow when his Russian mole is almost caught. Invariably his mission gets tangled up with hers.

The other key character is played by Matthias Schoenaerts who is her uncle, . Vanya Egorov. It is a classic case of trying to figure out who is really on which side, as often a character has to use misdirection to accomplish a task.

We enjoyed it, an interesting and entertaining viewing.

Watching this film adapted from the novel felt like deja vu of some good novels adapted into TV series or movies, either the scripts were not good enough to match up the original novels, or the leading key characters turned out terrible miscast. Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" series was totally ruined by the wrong cast of the guy who played Bosch in a lousy TV series, all the supporting actors, especially the female ones were even worse, female detectives or female city employees all looked in a fashion show, with perfect hairstyles, over the top make-up, tailored costumes...But worst of all, is the miscast of Harry Bosch, completely ruined the personification of the large-than-life Harry Bosch in the novels. The other worst nightmarish miscast was Tom Cruise played Jack Reacher of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Tom Cruise completely ruin the image of Jack Reacher in the novels.

Here, in "Red Sparrow", we got the same situation again. Either Jennifer Lawrence looked too old or the actress who played her mother looked too young. If you have read the two original novels, "Red Sparrow" and "Palace of Treason", Jennifer Lawrence didn't look or feel like what the leading character in the novels, far from it. Then Joel Edgerton especially, a wrong cast. Not only he didn't make me feel like the leading male character in the novel, he didn't have any believable chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence. The roles they played in this movie didn't click or sparkle to become lovers. The man Joel Edgerton played should be more attractive or handsome, a guy so smart and so aggressively headstrong ambitious, sometimes even careless but with toughness and guts. The novels showed it, but Edgerton didn't even come close. Furthermore, all the supporting actors didn't even have the chance to show us they are A-list actors, because the screenplay was not good at all.

I've found myself very impatient to sit tight to watch along. I even constantly lost interest to focus on the screen, distracted a lot. I totally agree with the low ratings and all those negative movie critics given so far to this movie. I had the same experience when I watched "Atomic Blonde".

Rent it when DVD comes out, not worth paying mucho dineros for cinema seats.