Jennifer Lawrence is certainly one fine young movie star but somehow her performances have always struck me as kind of lacking in heart - at least after becoming really famous in "The Hunger Games".

It's partly but not mainly about that she comes across as distant or emotionless (although some of her characters have asked for that). It just feels like something in her as an actress has not developed or opened up yet.

I like everything about her - the acting range, the role choices and how she looks - but then again I never feel like she's really authentic and putting herself out there for the movies. Maybe it's just me?

Nevertheless, Lawrence's constant state of guarded-ness works well for the role of Russian spy in "Red Sparrow". She's also not shy about sharing her "bodily charms" on screen which even helps make it more memorable than it is.

I'd argue that the physical attractiveness part is so important here than if the movie had been released 20 years ago, it would have become famous like Sharon Stone and "Basic Instinct". Too bad that it's 2018 when naked bodies and sex are everywhere, so Lawrence's confident and cool sexy role will not gather that much attention.

It's also difficult to gather much attention in spy movie world these days, because there's a high number of those being produced constantly, including action, thriller, drama and comedies.

If one has to place it somewhere, "Red Sparrow" would fall into thriller category, although it has some drama and action, and the action scenes turn surprisingly and stomach-churningly violent indeed.

Another relatively rare thing about the project is using Russian spies and spymasters as central characters and letting the known actors speak with light faux Russian accent all the time.

What would probably feel laughable with lesser cast and director turns out just such fine using actors as Lawrence, Ciaran Hinds, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons and Matthew Schoenarts.

(There are also solid supporters such as Joel Edgerton and Thekla Reuten, so not everybody sounds the same.)

Thanks to confident actors, this approach works well enough to avoid falling into camp category. There's no joking around, everybody means business both behind and in front of the camera, and you will buy it because they seem to believe in it themselves. Which is good enough.

There's only one notable problem with the movie - it's such a mainstream endeavour that doesn't really stand out from the crowd of all kinds of good enough modern spy movies which have been released during this decade.

Almost nobody in the genre wants to concentrate on proper character and world building, and the result is they all feel kind of same-y.

"Red Sparrow" would probably win by being a bit shorter too. There's not too much filler content (although almost the entire final act feels like one) but it's still long at 140 minutes. And we don't even get enough interesting backstory for the she-spy and the world she's living in, including the relationship with her powerful relative.

The biggest letdown is the titular heroin who remains beautiful but bland as any successful spy should. But anybody who has seen more than a couple of recent spy movies will probably yearn for some depth, realizing that there's not much point to care about her. Just watch and be moderately entertained.

The character development remains limited and whatever one might think of her during watching, the authors will try to twist it into something "surprising" in the final act, making the previous journey together matter even less.

Thus, the emotional stakes never reach particularly high and one can just hope for some passable entertainment. But there's a lingering potential to be more than that in this otherwise well-made thriller.