FILM REVIEW: Red Sparrow (2018)

Directed by Francis Lawrence

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I think we all know the “sizzle vs. the steak” analogy by now. Imagine being served a nice, juicy steak fresh off the grill with a mouth-watering sizzle. You take your utensils and begin to cut into the steak, eager for that first bite. Unfortunately, this is one tough steak, requiring a little bit of elbow grease to cut through. The disappointment continues when you take that first bite – so bland and flavorless that your inner Gordon Ramsay is on the verge of externalizing. To top all of this off, your server periodically approaches you to extol in gruesome detail how the cow you are about to consume was slaughtered, almost as if he’s getting off on it. Such is the experience of watching Red Sparrow.

In their first collaboration since the Hunger Games trilogy, director Francis Lawrence and actress Jennifer Lawrence (no relation) team up in this would-be sexy espionage thriller. The final product, however, is a tedious film that plods through insipid characters and a subsequently boring story. When the film is interesting, per se, it is borderline pornographically sadistic.

In a solid performance wasted on a character that isn’t deserving of such talent, Jennifer Lawrence is Dominika Egorova. She is a well-respected ballet dancer who cares for her mother, who is hindered by some sort of ailment. Dominika is the victim of an on-stage accident that results in a broken leg (I just now noticed the hilarious irony in this situation). It turns out that this was no accident, as her dancing partner had conspired against her. Following a rather bloody debacle with the perpetrator, Dominika’s uncle Ivan (Matthias Schoenaerts) offers her a chance to avoid any legal trouble: become a Sparrow. She accepts.

When Dominika sees her uncle for the first time since Sparrow School, she tells him “You sent me to whore school!” If you ask me, this is a morbidly amusing understatement. Sparrows are spies who accomplish their mission, whatever it may be, by way of seduction and titillation. The road to becoming a successful sparrow is one hell of a task, as Sparrow School is a torrent of sexual degradation and humiliation. Students are summoned to the front of the class (in front of everybody) to strip naked, to engage in fellatio with strangers, even to have sex right there. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I was reminded of Pasolini’s notorious Salo – just without the coprophilia (thankfully). Even the set design is eerily similar.

These training sequences are some of the most discomforting things I’ve seen in a mainstream film, but I was sensing some sort of social commentary. Perhaps there was an intended statement on the objectification of women in society. As disturbing as it may have been, I would have liked to have seen this movie. But apparently that’s asking too much. Any promise of brutal social commentary is completely dropped after Sparrow School. Before you cease reading, I won’t criticize the film for this – after all, if it’s entertaining, can’t that be enough? I don’t know how to answer that question, because it’s a downhill trudge from this point forward.

What follows is an espionage plot involving an American secret agent, a possible mole in the Russian government, and all of the sleaze that Dominika must seduce and endure in between. I applaud anybody who was able to follow the plot from here on out, because I couldn’t. In my opinion, the plot is impossible to follow – not because it is convoluted, but because there are no characters to care about or want to follow along the journey. Everybody is simply a blank slate with a pretty face and a Russian accent.

I mentioned earlier that Jennifer Lawrence gives a solid performance, particularly in one scene where she sexually humiliates one of her fellow trainees. I will admit that there is some bias in this statement (Lawrence is one of my favorite actresses working today), because I don’t know if the performances are to be admonish or commended. They are completely arbitrary. No matter what talent Red Sparrow could get its hands on, no performance could possibly make anything out of the empty characters that populate the film – there is nobody worth caring about in this movie.

When Red Sparrow does manage to get your attention, it is not because it is entertaining but because of how sadistic it becomes. The only really notable scenes in Red Sparrow (save for the school sequence, which I’ve already covered) are two torture sequences, and you can tell that this is where all of the attention was focused, not to mention they go on and on. These scenes could have been thrilling with some sort of reason to care about what’s going on. Without that, though, the scenes come off as exploitative, and I’m not usually the type who will criticize a movie for something like this as I’m a firm believer in the power of transgression.

On a technical standpoint, there is nothing wrong with Red Sparrow. While there’s no spectacular set design, absorbing sound work or mind-blowing cinematography (save for some cool city building exteriors), Red Sparrow was at least made by people who knew what they were doing. In other words, at least it was watchable to a degree. I emphasize “to a degree” because of what might be Red Sparrow’s biggest offense – it is two and a half hours long, and it really feels like it (I was tempted to walk out of the theater numerous times). No matter how titillating the trailers and advertising may be (something I was a victim of), don’t allow yourself to be seduced by Red Sparrow.