A lot of people were making the instant comparison to the Marvel character Black Widow, and by the way the trailers were positioning this movie, I don't really blame them. However, there aren't a whole lot of similarities between the two besides the fact that the names consist of a color and an animal/creature. Red Sparrow is much more in the vein of a pure spy thriller than it is an action/spy/thriller. If I'm not mistaken, Jennifer Lawrence's character, Dominika, never throws a punch, besides one or two in defense. Dominika deploys a far more psychological and seductive approach to her enemies, and it actually ends up working quite well.

I know some people questioned Jennifer Lawrence's devotion to the X-Men franchise after she "mailed in" her performance in apocalypse. I just don't think there was a whole lot for her to do in that role, but I never questioned her ability to act or her motivation to do so. Well, she undeniably goes for it in Red Sparrow. This isn't a typical role for her, physical and emotionally difficult, all while doing an entirely new accent. However, she makes it look easy and for the most part, leads a thrilling film.

I will say, one of the faults of Red Sparrow is a common fault among spy/thriller/mysteries, which is the constant feeling that they need to keep one-upping every scene towards the finale. There are quite a few exciting twists that occur in the last act, but at 2hrs and 20min, it does feel like one too many at a certain point. The film can also get relatively slow at times and while the story is interesting and worth telling, you could make the argument it's more style than substance at times. I was never bored and it isn't exactly what I expected, but it's certainly not something we haven't seen before. That's good enough for me.

7.3/10