Red Sparrow (dir. Francis Lawrence)

With the current political climate finally giving a voice to those from the “MeToo” movement, Hunger Games director Francis Lawerence’s espionage thriller “Red Sparrow” underlying messages of female empowerment and sexual equality are even more prevalent in the face of real-life atrocities gripping the Hollywood elite of late. His latest effort, a taut espionage thriller that reunites him with his star Jennifer Lawerence, may be advertised as a cross between comparative female-driven action offerings such as “Atomic Blonde” and “Salt”, yet this terrific thriller eschews the basic action-movie conventions for a much more interesting character study of female superiority in the a world of male pervertedness - opting for surprisingly dark dourness and uncomfortable set-pieces closer to a trashy low budget genre film.

Credit then to the Hunger Games dynasty (Jennifer and Francis) for choosing such a brave text for their follow-up project, utilizing a script from Justin Haythe (which he adapted from former CIA operative James Williams supposedly true-life memoir from 2013) which isn’t afraid of relishing in the novel’s brazen approach to bureaucratic oneupmanship, and not pampering on the R-rated nastiness. Adopting a restrained approach to storytelling, our French director utilizes the landscapes which range from Moscow to Budapest and finally to London, to do most of the talking; finding aesthetic beauty in the meandering backdrops.

Setting the drama with a bravura opening dance sequence, our central heroine is Dominika (Jennifer Lawerence), a domineering and impressive talent in the Bolshoi Ballet scene. She's a young prodigy with an abundance of charisma and clear God-given talent; never tired of being the center of attention. But tragedy soon strikes when her dancing career is cut short unceremoniously, as her fellow performer breaks her leg so badly she is unable to return to stage, and she fears the loss of her apartment and her health insurance, which her ailing Mother (Joely Richardson) is dependent upon. Then a visit from her Uncle Ivan (Matthias Schoenharts), who happens to be a top-aid in the Russian intelligence, offers her mother all the top medical treatment in the world in exchange for Dominika seducing a wealthy and shady businessman who has made enemies with the Russian Government.Getting him into a room without his personal detail won’t be easy, so Dominika must use her cunning abilities at sexual manipulation - at least long enough for an assassin to surreptitiously enter the hotel room during a staggeringly uncomfortable rape scene and take him out. Fearing retaliation due to her complicity, Dominika is offered an alternative: become a pawn in Russian intelligence’s defense by using her body as a weapon, duping would-be assailants into vulnerability long enough to get exactly what she wants, or face probably death.

She chooses the former, and to hone her craft, is sent to “Sparrow school”, a state-sponsored boot camp tasked with moulding psychologically advanced youths into operatives who can read people from a glance and seduce them with promises of the flesh. Greeting her at the doorstep is the matron - the incomparable Charlotte Rampling - at her scenery chewing best, who welcomes her to the institution and navigates her through the vicissitudes of her indoctrination. Daily routines range from the absurd to the downright offensive, and our French director leaves little to the imagination- oddly finding profundity and nuance in sequences which wouldn't feel out of place in Lars Von Trier's NYMPHOMANIAC series. Though tonal shifts are clearly risible -even as Lawerence pushes the boundaries on socially acceptable behaviour - it's never anything less than fascinating to watch, as Dominika's training slowly builds to an all encompassing blend of the shocking and the provocative; including one memorable exchange between Dominika and a fellow cadet, with whom she has fought of aggressive sexual advances, recieving a dressing-down in the most egregious of fashions. Simultaneously, a CIA Operative Nash (Joel Edgerton) has been reprimanded in Moscow for botching a meeting with an asset within Russian Intelligence, and been sent to Budapest to lie low until his contact surfaces. Hot on his heels however are Dominkia's Uncle Ivan, and his merry band of Russian ambassadors - Zakharov (Ciarán Hinds) and General Korchnoi (Jeremy Irons) - who are desperate to unravel the identity of the mole in their government, by any means necessary. Unsurprisingly, the task to deduce the whereabouts of the traitor is given to Dominika, who must use her newly acquired skills of deception to subdue her man into giving up his target.

Lighting the scenes with a noir-drenched aesthetic is cinematographer Jo Williams (who also worked on the Hunger Games films), who manages to handle the nomadic locations and infuse a dourness to proceedings. Despite the usual Hollywood methodology that subtitles are bad and even worse accents are better, Lawerence's Russian accent is more than passable, as is her turn as the former Ballerina - following on from her wrongly maligned performance in Darren Arronofsky's MOTHER, she more than justifies her highest-paid-actress label - further breaking the shackles of the young-adult fiction star she once was - becoming an enigmatic screen presence who's versatility knows no bounds. Accompanying the drama is a score from veteran James Newton Howard - his crushing violin crescendos often chaperon the inter-continental shenanigans, and as the plot twists and the narrative flourishes start to unravel -and torture and knife-fights become the films main source of action - are a welcome sobering afterburner.

Though a little rough around the edges, and there's no doubt that the running time runs suspiciously long (sub-plots with an treacherous senators assistant played by Mary Louis Parker become tedious after a while, and a supporting role from the always excellent Bill Camp is sorely underused), yet despite these occurrences - Lawerence has created an engaging cautionary tale about true power in the face of male arrogance: using a spectacularly brave actress in that of Jennifer Lawerence, and proving that there's always fun to be had in examining the prevailing feebleness of the male gaze, and the overriding power a woman will always have over them.

Rating 3/5.