Movie Reviews - Red Sparrow

Director: Francis Lawrence
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 140 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Ciarán Hinds, Joely Richardson, Bill Camp, Jeremy Irons, Thekla Reuten, Mary-Louise Parker

Description: Ballerina Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent (Joel Edgerton), threatens to unravel the security of both nations.

Review: “Red Sparrow” is an old school spy story, filled with betrayal, twists and strange accents. The film is almost completely set in Russia and Eastern Europe, but all characters are portrayed by non-Russians taking on a Russian accent. It doesn’t have the nuance of a John Le Carré film, but it’s a simplistic and entertaining spy thriller.
Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova, a promising ballet dancer who is part of the Bolsjoi ballet. She has lived for dancing all her life, but due to a certain turn of events, has to end her career. Manipulated by her uncle Vanya Egorov, she starts working for him. He is an important man working for the SVR, the Russian CIA. Dominika is trained to become a Sparrow, special spies who use their bodies as a weapon.
“Red Sparrow” is an interesting spy thriller, that has more to offer than some cheesy and cliché twists or typical spy operations filled with betrayal and lies. But it doesn’t have the substance that movies like “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” have.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 42: Event Horizon

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Genre: Thriller/ Science Fiction/ Horror

Runtime: 96 minutes

Year: 1997

Starring: Sam Neill, Laurence Fishburne, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jake Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee, Peter Marinker, Holley Chant, Barclay Wright, Noah Huntley Robert Jezek

Description: A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board.

Review: “Event Horizon” is a movie that might surprise the naive viewer. Because the story isn’t complicated and looks like a space movie without any inspiration, that we already have a dozen of. A research team is send into space to find a spaceship that has disappeared. They succeed, but soon they discover an evil force.

“Event Horizon” wasn’t received well by critics. They said it was a cheap mix of “Alien” and “Hellraiser”. And off course there are similarities. The empty, sinister hallways of the spaceship and the constant threat. And also the bloody images. But still it’s not a just a copy of those films.

Fact that director Andersons made a good movie with “Event Horizon” is the dark way of telling the story from beginning till end. It grabs you and compels you. The build-up of the tension is very strong. It takes some time for it to become exciting. The climax is pretty gory and not for the weak stomach.

Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill are the big names in the movie. Both gentlemen manage to give away a solid performance. The other actors don’t really impress, but are good enough to make the movie believable.

“Event Horizon” is a lurid and sometimes eerie movie, that surprises. Surely a movie for every science fiction fan.

Rating: 3,5/ 5