Ice Cold J-Law
This cold-war inflected thriller sees Jennifer Lawrence play a former ballet dancer forcibly recruited into a modern-day Russian military programme that trains ‘to seduce and destroy’. The film starts with Lawrence’s character befalling a career-ending accident at the Bolshoi. Her uncle quickly arrives to offer her a way out of poverty for her and her sick mother – recruitment into the Red Sparrow training programme.
During a training montage, we see the new recruits picking locks and then watching porn. Later, there is a violent and shocking portrayal of an attempted rape. This is the crux of the film’s problems. For a premise so ridiculous, it takes itself exceedingly seriously and presents us with scenes of sex and violence that are needlessly cruel.
There are scenes of sexual assault which are handled well in themselves, but these are shown alongside too many gratuitous shots of Lawrence in her underwear.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/
An Understated, but Robotic Performance
Having said that, the best part of the film is Lawrence’s performance. It is wonderfully understated. She rarely cracks a smile, but she’s a magnetic onscreen presence. However, with a character so robotic, it’s difficult to warm to her. We can admire her intelligence and emotional resilience in the toughest of circumstances, but it’s bloody hard to root for her.
When she is assigned to unearth a mole in Russian intelligence she meets Nate (Joel Edgerton) a US CIA agent. Their romance is again difficult to care about, as we never see Lawrence’s character’s vulnerability or her passion expressed as anything other than violence.
A Questionable Accent
There’s a strong supporting cast around the central characters. It was great to see Ciarán Hinds and Jeremy Irons – but then disappointing to realise that they too would be another non-Russian speaking in a Russian accent. This is a conundrum that many films face.
Do they go the bond villain route as in this instance, or allow actors to use their natural accents, or hire some native-speakers? Using a lot of US and European actors with Russian accents just didn’t feel at home with the gritty violence portrayed on screen, and was at times distracting.
The characterisation felt mildly offensive to Russia – with all of the Russian characters displaying emotional coldness and cruelty. Charlotte Rampling is wasted as the headmistress of the Red Sparrow programme, given lines of hammy dialogue about ‘a new cold war’ and Americans being ‘drunk on social media’.
Plenty of Twists and Turns, but a Complete Lack of Action
For a spy thriller with a lot of twists, turns, intrigue, and gore, there is surprisingly little action. The direction and Lawrence’s performance are flattened and cold. I lost count of the number of scenes where Lawrence walks into a room, takes off her coat, has a conversation, leaves, and repeats the process in another room.
There are enjoyable plot twists, but the film could have benefitted from a lighter tone. It would be interesting to see the original novel adapted into a more conventional thriller that embraced the fun to be had with the genre.
Verdict
A spy film is often at its most enjoyable when the audience isn’t sure what’s going on and who’s on what team. This film would have been better if it knew itself what it was aiming for – gritty realism or campy fun. Instead, it’s a disappointing mess that is somewhat redeemed by Jennifer Lawrence’s strong central performance.
