RED SPARROW (2018) ***

It’s hard out here for a Russian ballerina.  You can pirouette all you want, but the second you break your leg, Mother Russia will turn her back on you.  If you want to keep hustling, you have to go to Sparrow School where you learn to be a spy.  And by “spy”, I mean you learn how to be humiliated, degraded, and raped.  That way, when you meet your target, you’ll let him do anything he wants to, so you can get close enough to him and get whatever MacGuffin Mother Russia needs you to get from them.

If you thought Jennifer Lawrence got put the wringer in mother! wait till you see her in this.  She is beaten, abused, raped, and humiliated constantly throughout the film’s two and a half hour running time.  No matter what Russia or the Americans throw at her, she perseveres.  She does what she must for her country (OK, for her sick mother), but just know if you cross her, she holds one helluva grudge.

Red Sparrow (directed by Lawrence’s frequent Hunger Games collaborator, Francis Lawrence) is a throwback to the Cold War espionage thrillers of yesteryear.  The plot is very simple yet convoluted at the same time.  The relationship between Lawrence and an American agent SEEMS genuine, but is it?  You never know who’s conning who although you THINK you have a good idea.  

Those seeking action and thrills will be disappointed.  This is more of a character study of how secrets kill, how loyalties are tested, and the toil dehumanizing yourself for your country takes on not only your body, but your mind.  Is it a little too long?  Perhaps, but the length helps to put you squarely in Lawrence’s shoes.  You feel every punch, slap, and slice she endures, and when she finally retaliates, it’s a truly rousing moment.

Lawrence, as she proved in mother!, excels at playing a put-upon woman who continually puts others above herself and sacrifices everything for a seemingly higher power.  You root for her every step of the way.  This is one of her all-time best performances and the film is worth checking out solely for her.  

The supporting cast is grand.  Joel Edgerton is a good match for her.  He has a way of breaking down the barriers between them in a realistic way.  He may be a spy, but he feels like a regular joe, which may or may not be a ploy on the character’s part.  Jeremy Irons is excellent as a Russian general who may or may not be advocating the termination of Lawrence’s character.  Charlotte Rampling is stunning as the cruel matron of the Sparrow School.  You’ll be certain she has ice water in her veins by the end of the movie.

The most entertaining turn comes courtesy of Mary-Louise Parker.  She plays a chief of staff member in cahoots with Russia who loves her vodka.  It’s little more than an extended cameo, but she practically steals the movie out from under everyone.  I’d pay good money to see her character in a spin-off.

It’s Lawrence who gets the best line of the movie when she says, “You sent me to whore school!”