I will have to read the book at some point... I love Russian/Soviet spy stories, my favorite being Gorky Park (which has a cameo in the opening scenes of the movie). The problem is this story doesn't live up to anything as good as Gorky Park the movie or "The Americans" TV series. I give the actors plenty of credit, even though Jennifer Lawerence's Russian accent is inconsistent (sometimes OK, sometimes completely absent... better than say Kevin Costner's English accent in Robin Hood). However, her emotional acting is excellent and makes up for the accent (plus, to be fair, some of the "Russians" in the movie have accents, some just sound like Brits pretending to be Russian).

Without giving away any spoilers, towards the end of the film, there can really only be two antagonists and everything goes exactly that way. The questions over loyalty are resolved so early that you almost don't trust what you're seeing because generally spy movies are "wheels within wheels".

Occasionally, the movie seems like it's trying to have a sense of humor but that's kind of executed inconsistently as well. It's not a chess game, more like a volleyball tournament. Once you get past the "shocking" parts of the film it's a little light on intrigue, plot, style, and intensity.