ALEX FARBA

Misguided Missile in a Pseudo Cold War.

Red Sparrow (Vörös Veréb) was Viewed on commercial release in Budapest in English with Hungarian Subtitle Jennifer Lawrence wears bangs in Cold War Sex Thumper as ex-Ballet diva boffing away for the NKVD... but the cluttered script and lumbering direction sabotage Jennifer's    valiant efforts to keep this shipwreck afloat

First let me say that two things attracted me to this picture; (1) Hollywood's most youthful superstar, Jennifer Lawrence (26!), of whom I am an unabashed fan, and (2) the Budapest locations, since I live here.  Thirdly, a general tendency to favor espionage moves ....

Well, tonight,

I saw a doozie of a cheap sex thrills opus masquerading as a heavy duty Cold War counter espionage thriller -- RED SPARROW is little more than an expensive excuse for showing (gorgeous) Jennifer Lawrence peeling to the buff and spreading her shapely legs every ten minutes. 

A former ballerina and a great beauty, she has been recruited by the NKVD to seduce American agents as a sexual counter agent and she packs the physical goods to be very effective. The cover name for the top secret program under which fetching young women are trained  for such patriotic bodily duty is known as "Red Sparrow" -- the trainees as sparrows. .

Lawrence looks great as usual in this highly off beat role -- even in bangs --but is, however, seriously cheapened by her abuse and misuse in this film.  Also notable (If you can recognize them) some top British talent wasted on this picture by Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Rampling as high level Russians officials. (way beneath their level -- they must have been hard up for some spot cash) -- Rampling in particular is simply grotesque as head mistress of Sparrow School. 

This sad excuse for a spy thriller and meticulous exercise in sado-masochism with revolting torture scenes and half baked attempts at Russian accents would make more sense dubbed into Russian sans subtitles.  Unless you're really hot to see a Russified Jennifer Lawrence 98% naked no matter how sickening and disbelievable the circumstances, avoid this flick immediately.       

  Ps: Budapest standing in for Moscow is equally dubious. Except for the fact that a significant portion of the story actually takes place there, there is no geographic differentiation when we switch to "Moscow". which merely piles confusion on top of confusion. (Other locations are Vienna and London, but Budapest also has to stand in for Moscow)

 I got tired finally even of watching alarmingly sexy Lawrence dutifully churning away in The Buff over and over with various victims, but her boffo torture scenes are exceptionally crude, stomach turning, and diswatchable.  She really took a lot of punishment during these gruesome quasi-pornographic two hours and deserves a Purple Heart if not an Oscar for her efforts in the line of duty under her Hunger Games guru, Francis Lawrence, (No relation) who basically directed her to early stardom.

Despite the meandering duplicitous script and general murkiness Red Sparrow will probably break even or better at the till because of JL's indisputable sex appeal and dedicated fan following, but ~

Wait for the inevitable Bollywood remake starring Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan.

It's not that Jennifer was miscast, just that the movie was misplaced and should have stayed in the can. 

Bottom Line: This sparrow is strictly for the birds if not to say From Hunger.

 Alex, Budapest

March 19, 2018