Red Sparrow (Francis Lawrence)

[Spinal]

IMDb

[Spinal]

This movie is kind of hilariously bad in places. It's remarkable that they try to pull this off with straight faces. It seems fueled by a kind of dopey sado-masochistic obsession with a highly fantasized view of Russian culture, complete with a villain that is a dead ringer for a young Putin. Russia is evil and corrupt and violent, but also sexy! I'm making it sound more fun than it is. Mary-Louise Parker comes in for about 10 minutes and all of a sudden the movie is fun and has life and makes sense. The rest is a bit of a slog when people aren't naked. It's hard to imagine that anyone will want to claim this on their resume a few years from now. Expect Jeremy Irons maybe, because that man has done far worse.

[Peng]

The extratextual fascination, of Jennifer Lawrence dealing and negotiating with her public image and privacy (especially in the context of that final classroom scene), tends to exceed my engagement with the actual film at several times. The dour serious tone, seemingly a leftover from the director's last two Hunger Games films, works well during the first half, productively countering against some lurid batshit material and situations. When we get into pure spy story afterwards though, that makes the film lack for something of a pulse. Same problem with his last two films in which the somberness flatlines what should be more of a pulpy fun; thankfully in this case we have a more varied slew of engaging performances, and some suspenseful/truely gruesome setpieces. Tempted to add a point more just for that great ending though. 6.5/10

[Mal]

Everyone looks bored in this movie.

[Grouchy]

This movie is not as bad as you are all making it out to be but it does overstay its welcome a great deal. I hadn't even considered a relationship between the movie and Jen Lawrence's real life nude leak - it seems to me that relationship is strained at best but the Wikipedia page and the statements of the actress make it all about that for some reason, probably advertising. What I saw was a particularly sadistic spy yarn that was way too pro-US for its supposedly realistic worldview but would have still been very entertaining if it was shorter.

[Peng]

I hadn't even considered a relationship between the movie and Jen Lawrence's real life nude leak - it seems to me that relationship is strained at best but the Wikipedia page and the statements of the actress make it all about that for some reason, probably advertising.

I didn't know about her interview or even the wiki thing, so the fact that I came separately to that may lend something to it being not that strained? To be fair, it was not until that last classroom scene that it was the clearest and snapped into place for me anyway. Some of the rest of the film may be shaped into a reading by that framing inspired from it, but not that clear or needed. But the last classroom scene, from my (maybe flawed) memory, couldn't really stood out any more about it? A petty, misogynistic man wanting her body and she gave it to him in a way that inspired more humiliation and emasculation than any sexual pleasure. The scene also coincided with Lawrence's first instance of consented on-screen nudity, occuring in a context with the least eroticism possible.

[Grouchy]

The scene also coincided with Lawrence's first instance of consented on-screen nudity, occuring in a context with the least eroticism possible.

I hadn't considered this. I guess Mystique doesn't count, hahah.

Anyway, that was a good scene and it reminded me of a similar one in Verhoeven's Elle.