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

Movies to Look Forward to - March 2018

February is almost to an end, so it's time to look forward to the March movies.

March 1st – Red Sparrow
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Marie-Louise Parker, Ciarán Hinds, Joely Richardson, Bill Camp, Jeremy Irons, Thekla Reuten
Description: Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to 'Sparrow School' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. But her first mission, targeting a CIA agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.

March 2nd – Battle of the Sexes
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Eric Christian Olsen, Fred Armisen, Sarah Silverman, Andrea Riseborough
Description: The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.

March 6th – Lady Bird
Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges
Description: In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California

March 14th – Stronger
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Jake Gyllengaal, Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown
Description: Stronger is the inspiring real life story of Jeff Bauman, an ordinary man who captured the hearts of his city and the world to become a symbol of hope after surviving the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

March 15th – Tomb Raider
Director: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dominic West, Nick Frost, Daniel Wu
Description: Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she finds herself on the island where her father disappeared.

March 22nd – Gringo
Director: Nash Edgerton
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo, Thandie Newton, Amanda Seyfried
Description: Gringo, a dark comedy mixed with white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, explores the battle of survival for businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) when he finds himself crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal.

March 29th – Ready Player One
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Simon Pegg, T.J. Miller, Tye Sheridan, Mckenna Grace, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
Description: When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune. Wade Watts finds the first clue and starts a race for the Egg.