'Red Sparrow' is all grim oppressiveness
Jennifer Lawrence is a strong dramatic actress (鈥淲inter鈥檚 Bone,鈥� the 鈥淗unger Games鈥� movies) and an even stronger comedian (鈥淎merican Hustle,鈥� 鈥淪ilver Linings Playbook鈥�). In 鈥淩ed Sparrow,鈥� in which she plays Dominika, a lethal Russian agent, she never, as far as I could tell, cracks a smile. Or at least not a smile that isn鈥檛 secretly a sneer.
This would be all well and good if the role were deservedly dark, but it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 the centerpiece of high-gloss, highly sexualized espionage claptrap with an overlay of faux female empowerment: Dominika is pretty much an equal-opportunity scourge. It鈥檚 an indication of how much this film needed a bright break in all the grim oppressiveness that when Mary-Louise Parker shows up in a giddy cameo as a foul-mouthed boozer, the audience suddenly lit up with laughter.聽Grade: C+ (Rated R for strong violence, torture, sexual content, language, and some graphic nudity.)
