[Review] Red Sparrow (8/10)

Red Sparrow is one of Jennifer Lawrence's best performance to date. Even though she looked the same, her demeanor through her acting was very different.

And this is also why I don't need to see an origin movie of Black Widow which Marvel Studios is trying to make right now. This is the origin of Black Widow and I am satisfied. I don't want another Scarlett Johansson action flick.

I really enjoyed the casting. All the players from the Russian side were pitch perfect. Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran Hinds and Jeremy Irons (though none of them are of Russian descent) were great to watch. Especially Schoenaerts, whether or not it was with the rest or just himself and Lawrence together. Such a great villain.

Joel Edgerton's role, however, was not as impactful as the rest. If swapped out with another actor I thought we would still get the same character and movie. Not to say he wasn't good in it, but he didn't have enough to do.

This movie's running time was almost two and a half hours. It took its time to build up Lawrence's character, show her history and how she got into the Sparrow; to her first assignment, and then to where she got to in the end. It was hard to tear my attention away from the screen because the tone and pacing was very consistent throughout.

Director Francis Lawrence's reteaming up with Lawrence after their Hunger Games outings showed vast improvements in their collaboration this time, not bound by an existing source material that was so familiar to so many.

A minor complaint I had was that typical and frustrating way of building up tension in many movies, where when the villain was knocked down, the protagonist instead of finishing them off immediately while they are down, go try to free the friend that was tied up. This isn't the 90's anymore. Haven't we moved past this?

Still, it was a good fight scene; and also a nice way of ending the character arc for Lawrence's Sparrow.

Also, James Newton Howard's score complemented and helped to create the ambiance to go with the tone.