IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (C, Lemire) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review
Red Sparrow [2018] (directed by Francis Lawrence, screenplay by Justin Haythe based on the spy novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Jason Matthews [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) while having had potential -- the film's about a Russian (previously Soviet) program which trains / trained young Russian women spies into becoming agents of seduction, manipulating (yes, often but not always sexually) potentially useful men from adversarial countries into serving the Russian Intelligence Service -- becomes an UTTERLY UNWATCHABLE FILM about 20 minutes from its end with a torture scene that while perhaps "realistic" was otherwise SHOCKINGLY APPALLING -- a Russian intelligence officer is shown using a portable electronic instrument (think of it as "an electric shaver PLUS" to SHAVE OFF 1/4" THICK PIECES OF FLESH from an American intelligence officer "under interrogation." OKAY, I imagine that these kind of things "do happen...," BUT ...
As such, whatever else one could say about the film -- among them that the performances were generally quite excellent if somewhat "cut and dry" (the Viewer can generally quite clearly see who were intended to be "the good people" and who were "the bad" ones...), with Jennifer Lawrence playing Dominica Egorova, a once Bolshoi Ballet ballerina who after having had a dancing career ending accident (or perhaps "accident"), finds herself manipulated / recruited by a creepy, Vladimir Putin-resembling uncle / upper-level Russian intelligence official (played by Mattias Schoenaerts) into this Red Sparrow "agents of seduction" intelligence program. Eventually, "on assignment" in Budapest / Vienna on the trail of someone who was apparently a mole in the Russian Intelligence service (working for the West), she runs into an American intelligence officer (played by Joel Edgarton) and the rest of the story un-spools from there -- that rather shocking scene makes it, I'm not kidding NC-17 deserving, _utterly inappropriate_ for ANY young kids and as I mentioned UTTERLY UNWATCHABLE for most people in general.
It's a shame ...
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