At the outset it occurred to me that this would be a movie about sex and death, and that is exactly what it is. Jennifer Lawrence proves to be a real actress. The characters are cold but the movie tells you believably why they are that way. Espionage has never been portrayed so unglamorously. (Well, maybe in "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold".) The plot twist at the end, though evidently not faithful to the book, is clever and shows just how cynical and calculating spies have to be to stay alive.

Some say there is no Russian in this movie? Other than Joel Edgerton speaking Russian to Jennifer Lawrence in the middle of the movie, I think Joel's first line in the movie is "Kofe, pozhal'sta," which means, of course, "Coffee, please." Follow this rule, moviegoers: If Russians are talking to each other, assume that they are speaking Russian, but if Russians are speaking to Americans, assume they are speaking English unless they are actually speaking Russian and have subtitles underneath the picture.