It took the movie two hours and fifteen minutes to finally spell out what could be guessed in the first minute. For a movie that features a school for whores, this should've been a lot more interesting. Instead it's a bunch of nonsense intrigue wrapped up in a "female empowerment" story that is drawn out for as long as possible because, "Hey aren't we interesting.".

This either needed to be full blown sleaze or stiff upper-lipped. The movie is neither and sucks.

C-

This just wasn't interesting specially for a movie for whore school, spy movie or female empowerment. Francis keeps the things interesting and JLaw does a decent job here but both are off from their A-games here. The film will mostly be remembered for JLaw's nude scenes and it should be because there is nothing interesting going on here.

4/10

RED SPARROW

This film is a very slow burn but I think the end is satisfying enough to make it worthwhile. I don't think I'd watch it again just because it was so long but I did enjoy Jennifer Lawrence's performance. She's a really good actress. I was surprised by the open nudity in the film. I thought the cast was fine. Edgerton was okay. He just doesn't do it for me. The costumes and look on Lawrence were excellent.

Grade - B

I loved this. Francis Lawrence's best film to date by a fairly wide margin. It has far more John le Carré in its DNA than I expected: densely plotted, slowly burning, at times punishingly brutal espionage intrigue with ice water in its veins. And a slightly depraved, lascivious undercurrent. It feels admirably unconcerned with playing the expected notes (see: for instance, Salt) or conforming to multiplex expectations, and it held me firmly in its grip from the first frame to the last. Excellent acting by everyone, particularly Jennifer Lawrence, Charlotte Rampling, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

12 Years A Spy

It is well made, JLaw is amazing as usual and I was mostly intrigued by the turns in the story all the way to the end. But the film is just unnecessarily nasty in several places and its hard to really engage because of it. JLaw getting raped is awful enough but do we we really have to have an extended close up as the rapist, still inside her, is strangled to death? That whole bit would have the same impact on the story as a quick death right before the rape, but Red Sparrow really wants its characters to suffer.

However, all of JLaws nudity and voluntary sex scenes are on point. She said this movie was a way to “reclaim” her body and in that sense it worked. She just takes it a bit too far, fantasizing about the deaths of all the men who hurt her in The Fappening. If you wanna do that, go Jlaw Unchained. This is a half measure. All the right people are punished, but we are lead to believe that would never happen in real life.

I'm with David. Incredible movie.

I thought this was really good. Very intriguing. I loved how refreshingly ballsy it is for a wide release studio film. There's some surprising content in this. Nothing really seemed to be off the table which added to the unpredictability.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence was great. I'm glad she has been taking on risky roles lately and isn't playing it safe.

It's obvious this is going to end up being pretty underrated.


8/10 (B+)

Mike was in a mood for 8/10

Red Sparrow

Not bad, but also not good. I was actually a bit bored by it. The role Jennifer Lawrence plays is a little undignified and smutty, and at no time (besides Edgerton's kitchen interrogation) was I engaged in the goings-on. Whore school did not last long. It seemed like just a few weeks and she had proven enough to be put out in the field. I felt the film did not have much to offer besides trying to be controversial with the whore school, or by showing a penis, or by seeing Lawrence's breasts (she looks MUCH hotter with clothes on than off!). Meh.

C

Hm. I am a bit disappointed you did not enjoy this one. I found it very appealingly dark and enigmatic and icy in the best spy-movie way.

Nobody is more disappointed than me. Getting a "Category III" ticket and getting almost no sex was a huge disappointment! Then I have to put up with lots of people with surnames ending in -ova or -ov. Not the easiest plot to follow, especially when it is losing my interest with every scene. And Russian spy movies are not really my thing anyway, though I do value their ruthlessness when in US-set films. But I have little desire for seeing that in their motherland.

Yeah I can't say I was much of a fan of this one either which is unfortunate because I was actually looking forward to it. Based on the trailers I believe this had a lot of potential, and while it has all the right ingredients I just don't think it works honestly. The first half maybe even the whole first hour was the most engaging IMO, but it really got dull in the middle portion. Lawrence is fine, but I didn't care for her character all that much and I wasn't feeling Edgerton in his role. Jeremy Irons is just there, but with an awful excuse for a Russian accent and Mary-Louise Parker's cameo felt so random and out of place. The best parts of this were easily the whore school and the more violent bits like the torture scenes, because I actually liked how that stuff was handled. I also thought the Matthias Schoenaerts character was pretty interesting, but they ended up not doing much with him besides making him the villain and the object of her inevitable revenge.

C+

The guy who puts his fingers on her back is not her uncle, but that other guy who got strangled while raping her while she was on her first mission.

As for my review, the film really is pretty overlong, and much like how Russia is considered in the West I think, pretty dull and boring for just the most parts. However the film does have quite a wonderful aesthetic, Lawrence is good in the part (but certainly not her best role), and it does it's R-rating justice with nicely put scenes of nudity and violence. I kind of disliked Edgerton in this, whom I generally like, just because I don't fee he pulls of the American CIA agent role. Schoenaerts was great as the uncle though. But yeah, the whole story just isn't that interesting, "who's the mole", Irons was the flat-out suspect there I thought, so no surprise. The turn at the air-strip finally, I did not expect though, and F. Lawrence shot that whole part beautifully. I would have leaned to say the film is more average than good, but by the end I could appreciate its style and edginess enough that it earned a better grade.

B-

I didn't have a problem with Edgerton. He's always great in my eyes.

Good call.