I feel obliged to stress first that the film is almost without action scenes for 138 minutes duration because I'm sure some viewers would think Red Sparrow is a spicy espionage action kind of Salt or Atomic Blonde. Just three times the main character involved a fistfight, where the latter involves many incisions of knives and blood splashes. Sometimes also (maybe 30 minutes), present scenes of torture or brutal killings are enough to give the shock. So if the absence of action is replaced by the game of mind is not a problem, Red Sparrow is the film for you, Jennifer Lawrence portrays Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballet dancer who was forced to spy as the condition of his uncle, Ivan Dimitrevich Egorov (Matthias Schoenaerts), before he is willing to help bear the economic needs of Dominica, including the cost of treatment of the mother's feet. Egorov is one of the top Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), although seeing the resemblance of his face, I would not be surprised if one-day Schoenaerts would "rise to the rank" portray Vladimir Putin.

"Red Sparrow". Once he and his colleagues are called. Secret agents who are good at manipulating the target mind based on an understanding of each individual's fundamental desires. Lawrence, despite his accent inconsistent performance, had a convincing, intimidating gaze and aura of intimidation, even when he was in the middle of a sensual moment. Likewise, Charlotte Rampling, head of the school where sparrows are trained that can easily make the guts around him shrink instantly, Dominican's main target is, Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton), a CIA agent who at the same time is also trying to infiltrate SVR. Then the battle of the minds of both parties dominates. Justin Haythe who wrote the script based on a novel titled the same masterpiece Jason Matthews good highlight the intrigue. The audience knows that both Dominica and Nate know each other's identities, and eventually they both reveal their true identity. Both seem to always speak the truth, but we know the fact is not the case. Who is lying? Who is deceived? Each interaction becomes a binding psychic battle.

Red Sparrow is the first film director Francis Lawrence after completing the Hunger Games franchise three years ago. Here, Lawrence carefully composed a sensuality that enabled the audience to hold his breath. Not cheap, because we can feel behind Dominica's courage to undress until it grips his pubic genitalia, there is a dark side, there is cruelty hidden. Every sensuality is always followed by death, blood, or hidden intentions, wrapped up in a timid game of patience from Lawrence.

The farther from the impression of cheap sensuality when the cinematography of Jo Willems's work is always to inject beautiful images for the film. Willems is able to "exploit" a row of property-settings and costumes that are often dominated by a glowing red colour. Whether representing nuances of sexy, brave, or Russian, surely these striking colours refresh the eyes when the ears are sometimes disturbed when hearing the Russian intelligence chiefs speak English using Jeremy Irons accent in particular. Surprisingly, Russian itself often used its character on several occasions. Well, you know Hollywood. 

RATING (7,5/10)

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