Red Sparrow (2018)

The non-comic accurate Constantine. The cliched I Am Legend. The trying Water for Elephants. Three of the Hunger Games movies. This is the track record of director Francis Lawrence. Was there any reason he would suddenly produce a film that didn't feel terribly average? Sure the idea of Jennifer Lawrence as super-spy is enticing, even exciting. The trailers were tailor made to generate excitement picking small moments of intriguing shots. Lawrence does not have a problem with shooting nice looking films. His challenge is in telling interesting stories.

And that's the main problem with Red Sparrow, his collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence (I don't beleive there is a relation), who is clearly trying something brave here. The film's story isn't interesting. It is text book, standard spy thriller, to the point where it all feels cribbed from something else. Perhaps in the way that I Am Legend felt like a facsimile of apocalyptic adventures and Water for Elephants felt like a pale attempt at romantic fiction. There is always a yearning for something meaningful or authentic in his work.

Red Sparrow has one interesting aspect going for it. The film attempts to examine how we use sex to engage our personal, professional, economic transactions. There is an idea here that is fascinating, connecting our sexuality to the many areas that we interact with the world. However when I say "attempts to examine" I really mean "scratch the surface" and then dump it to fall into tired old plots of who-is-playing-who and falling-for-the-wrong-spy.  But there was the seed planted. I wanted more of that.

Lawrence, a huge star right now who can write her own ticket, takes this on bravely by putting her own sexuality out there. But it feel somewhat squandered on a less than intricate story. As I said it feels Sparrow drops the ball on the interesting parts. Sexuality in film is a difficult trick to pull off without it feeling exploitative or gratuitous. I think I understood where Sparrow was going with it but I'm not sure it got there.

And seeing the potential in something which doesn't make it can be a melancholy experience.

Red Sparrow
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling,  Mary Louise Parker, Jeremy Irons
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer: Justin Haythe