Red Sparrow is a cold war spy drama, based on a novel which I wasn't aware of until after watching. The storyline hooked me and I was anticipating the ending however the ending itself I found was a little disappointing, couldn't quite work out if the 'twist' at the end was overly complicated or too predictable but it left me somewhat underwhelmed.

The scenery is fantastic throughout the film and there are a great number of genuinely tense action moments which are gritty but for me were really entertaining, I think these are 2 of the best things the film offers. The story builds up very well too and I was really looking forward to an ending which didn't quite deliver.

Schoenearts delivered in his role as the devilish Uncle recruiting his niece for the state. Lawrence did just fine in her role in my view, she was plotting her and her mothers survival after her ballet career was ended abruptly, there were some similar traits with her hunger games role but I thought it was played appropriately (after getting over her Russian accent). A highlight for me was her talking to her uncle after being interrogated by the state. Not sure Lawrence and Edgerton had the greatest of chemistry and there was one sex scene that I thought was incredibly flat. Also the hitman named Matorin was in most of my favourite scenes and was a terrifying presence in the few moments he appeared, definitely deserves a mention.

To summarise there is a lot of good in this movie and for me it's a very interesting storyline for the most part. There are a number of action scenes to keep you entertained and even at well over 2 hours I felt the movie was paced fine. I wouldn't say the acting in this movie was outstanding but the movie is about spies who are expected to stay cool under pressure so for me it's no issue. If you like the sound of a brutal gritty spy drama then you can expect to be reasonably satisfied.