Red Sparrow (2018) – Film Review
Well, we now know what happened in Budapest!
…Just kidding. This film is grossly-misadvertised; I actually would’ve preferred the Black Widow/Hawkeye fan-fiction it was trying to be in the trailers. Came in looking for an action-espionage piece. Instead, we got a nigh X-rated—or, at the very least, NC-17, in my book—depiction of the international spy world that takes some things way to far, and fails to develop other crucial areas. For reasons I won’t get into for the plot’s sake, but that my date brought to my attention, after the fact, I suppose this could be retroactively-viewed as a feminist picture. I get that, I just fail to grasp it; feels more like a twist on the revenge plot, or “Frankenstein’s monster” trope.
I don’t usually say this, but…trigger warning. I could’ve done with, like, two sex scenes in the entire film, but there are at least six in the opening half-hour. Half of those depict rape. I get the whole “butts in seats” mission statement Hollywood has in cutting together trailers, but this…this is basically grounds for an entrapment suit, borderline box office robbery (if I’d actually had to pay for my tickets). What humor there is doesn’t really land, torture scenes are way too graphic, even for my non-squeamish stomach, and the redeeming qualities the piece does have can’t save it from itself.
I like a good twist, but most of them, here, seemed like last-minute write-ins to make jaws drop. They didn’t—I could see them coming a mile-off. While it boasts neat framing and cinematography, and killer performances from the leads, Red Sparrow is far too long a film. Trim some of the more button-pushing bits, and there’s 1/3 of the run-time cut, already.
And, yes, this is a film; regardless of my opinion, this isn’t a “forget your troubles for a while” popcorn flick. This takes some thinking, and remembering…and strength of stomach, and resolve. It’s easy to get lost—I did. Slowly pieced together the ending (and enjoyed it), but the film, writ large, is…lacking. Some of the accents are paper-thin, seem phoned-in. A few misplaced plot conveniences had me rolling my eyes and asking for a new writing team, while the rest of the…unnecessary moments, as I’ve talked in length about…had more people remain seated than I expected. I get a lot of complaints and requests for refunds, depending on the film and guests’ experiences, but—to my knowledge—there haven’t been any for this one.
Joel Edgerton’s character of Nash becomes wholly-involved in the plot too late; he’s such a charismatic actor, possesses such great screen presence—why would you not use him earlier than the half-way point? I get the filmmakers trying to develop Jennifer Lawrence’s Dominika, but there’s no development of Nash, because of that. We know way too much about Dominika’s backstory, and not enough of Nash’s. This could’ve been a far different film, with just a little restructuring.
Solid performances by not just the leads, but Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers, The Lion King (1994)), Joely Richardson (Event Horizon, The Patriot), Matthias Schoenaerts (The Danish Girl, Bullhead), and Ciarán Hinds (The Woman in Black, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), made it watchable, to an extent, but the cons outweigh the pros.
In the end, Red Sparrow could have been a spy movie for the new age, but over-the-top sequences did it in, more than anything else.
Here, I wouldn’t have minded a color-by-numbers political thriller…
Final ‘Risk Assessment: **/***. Not a complete waste of time, just…below expectations.
Next review: Love, Simon (Mar. 16th)
