Red Sparrow

The spy genre has always been about giving the audience a mystery that they are ill-equipped to solve. But where years of Bond films conditioned us to expect a certain kind of twist, it feels like the newly-anointed brethren of the spy genre feel they need to up the ante. In return, we are given spy films that are labyrinthine and not just hard to solve, but damn near impossible. Underneath the multitude and imperceptibility of the twists and turns of "Red Sparrow" is a pretty solid movie trying to claw its way out.

Dominika Egorova is a premiere ballerina in Russia. However, after a career-ending injury she is left struggling to support herself and her ailing mother. In a dire situation, she is offered to work with Russian intelligence by her uncle. After her first mission goes moderately well, she is sent to "Sparrow School" to become a special type of Russian operative well-versed in seduction.

"Red Sparrow" wants you to be confused, and that's part of its problem. It is a film that is designed for you to be surprised by its ending, only giving you all of the necessary clues as it reveals its truths. It's a puzzle that you are never given all of the pieces to. That's not entirely a problem, except for the fact that the film is built on this mountain of mystery and by keeping the audience at a distance it ensures that we ultimately aren't able to fully engage with its characters.

Which is too bad, because the film is filled with captivating to great performances. Jennifer Lawrence is able to make herself believable as a ballerina, a ruthless spy, and maybe most impressively, a person with a Russian accent. Joel Edgerton continues to kick ass in another altogether thankless role, and Matthias Schoenaerts logs another performance that will leave most in the audience saying, "Who was that guy? He was really good, but I have no idea who he is." But in those three roles you have the majority of the film's powerful performances because the rest of the characters are merely sketches. This leads to the overall wasting of great actors like Jeremy Irons, Ciaran Hinds, and Mary-Louise Parker, all of whom I didn't even realize were in the film until they showed up onscreen.

While "Red Sparrow" is neither overwhelming or underwhelming, its Blu-ray release at least comes packed with goodies. The majority of its special features are certainly of the electronic press kit variety, but they have more bulk than we often see in these releases. With six features, each in the ten to fifteen-minute range for runtime, it covers a large chunk of what you could want to know about the film, with the features on the locations and visual authenticity being the standouts. In addition to these features is a handful of deleted scenes and a feature commentary by director Francis Lawrence. The sheer volume of extras elevates "Red Sparrow" above films of similar quality when it comes to a physical release.

"Red Sparrow"
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
$24.96
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