‘Red Sparrow’ breaks boundaries of deception

Red Sparrow is a spy thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, a former ballerina searching for a way to get her mother medical needs. Red Sparrow debuted in theaters on Friday, March 2. Red Sparrow trailer

Matthew Will
Lantern Staff

Throw your expectations away as you walk into Red Sparrow, because you are in for a ride. Red Sparrow is the spy thriller following Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) and her sacrifices to save her sick mother. Dominika is a star ballerina at the top of her sport, but one unfortunate show night, her career is ended after her dance partner lands on her leg, breaking it.

The movie cuts to three months later, where Dominika still struggles to help her sick mother. She is approached by her uncle, Vanya Egorov (Matthias Schoenaerts), who works in Russian Intelligence for a way to save her mother: Dominika must attend Sparrow school to become trained as a Russian Intelligence agent.

The movie is set in Russia, and the characters, accents, dress and makeup make it look so. Credit is especially due because none of the actors/actresses are from Russia. The Russian officials had uniforms and such that look up to standards of the time. In the ballet scenes, the costumes are those of the typical Russian ballet show. The only accent throwing the Russian feel off is Jennifer Lawrence’s. Though, for an English speaker, her accent is rough,yet gets by.

Red Sparrow, directed by Francis Lawrence, was the first movie he’s directed since the Hunger Games movies, that also starred Jennifer Lawrence. The screenplay was written by Justin Haythe based on the book by Jason Matthews.

The movie is rated R for “strong violence, torture, sexual content, language and some graphic nudity.” The rating is no lie, as the movie gets a bit graphic, in both violent and sexual ways. When the first scene including graphic images, the viewer is not quite prepared for what is about to happen. An example is the first “sexual scene,” as you are expecting it to cut away soon after the scene begins, but instead, you are “forced” to sit there and watch as more clothing comes off and the scene becomes more sexual.

James Newton Howard is responsible for the score in Red Sparrow. The pieces work well with the plot, almost unnoticeable because of their good placement. The end was by far the best part of the score, rising and falling with the action and continuing to the end credits. Fans of great movie scores like Star Wars and Jurassic Park will love this one as well.

   Red Sparrow surpassed my expectations by far in multiple ways. I expected a typical spy movie with some cool action shots here and there and we got that plus, much more. Acting, writing and music were good as well leading to a solid 7.5 out of 10.