Film review: Red Sparrow

Time for another film review and this week I am reviewing the 2018 spy thriller Red Sparrow based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Jason Matthews. Directed by Francis Lawrence, staring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton and Matthias Schoenaerts with Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Irons among the supporting cast.

Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first.


Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is a famous Russian ballerina who supports her ill mother, until her leg is broken in a career ending accident. Her uncle Ivan Egarov (Matthias Schoenaerts), deputy director of the SVR (The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation), tasks her with seducing a Russian gangster in return for her mothers continued care, the gangster is killed in front of her and she is given a choice as a result; become an SVR operative, or be executed.

Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) is a CIA operative working in Moscow, he is re-assigned to the US after a meeting with a Russian mole goes awry, however the mole will only speak to him so he is assigned to Budapest to reestablish contact with the mole, code named Marble.

Dominika is sent to Sparrow school, a brutal training centre of sexpionage run by Matron (Charlotte Rampling). Once she graduates Ivan assigns her to Budapest to gain Nate's trust and expose Marble's identity. In Budapest Dominika shares and apartment with another Sparrow called Marta and discovers what she is working on, buying classified intelligence from the chief of staff to a US senator. She also gains Nash's trust and, after Marta is murdered and Dominika threatened, becomes a double agent working with him to continue Marta's mission while furthering her own and assuring protection for her mother. On the mission for the SVR to collect the intelligence, Dominika switches the discs with the information on with CIA supplied disinformation, this earns her days of torture and interrogation back in Moscow. Her claims of innocence are believed by her uncle and he sends her back to Budapest and Nash, who she convinces to relocate her and her mother to America. Later Nash is being tortured for Marble's identity and Dominika saves him, but is badly injured and wakes up in hospital where General Vladamir Korchnoi (Jeremy Irons), a high ranking official who works with Ivan. He reveals himself to be Marble and fearing he will soon be caught instructs Dominika expose him and then take his place as the mole when he is executed. Instead when she calls her superiors she tells them Ivan is the mole using evidence she has fabricated since she first landed in Budapest. Ivan is killed and Dominika is honoured at a Russian military ceremony attended by General Korchnoi.

This was an incredible film, full of so many twists and surprises with a fair amount of action and information, I really enjoyed watching this and seeing the story develop as I tried to work things out. This is one of the best spy film I have seen and especially played on some of the tensions between Russia and the US, despite the cold war being decades ago. One of the things that added to the story line is that the author of the original book is a former member of the CIA and was closely involved in the making of the film, this added a certain level of authenticity to the overall film.

With regards to the story line I will admit that as it went on and I had suspicions about several characters being the mole I only worked out who it was when he appeared at the hospital, maybe 3 minutes before he revealed himself. However I hadn't fully worked out how Dominika was going to betray Ivan, but when the reveal came everything made sense all her little bits fell into place to reveal the way she had played Ivan. The thing I found particularly interesting is that when Dominika first met Marta she was given some advice, including 'show them what they want to see' Dominika certainly did that, she gave Nate someone to save, Ivan someone to observe and feel like he had succeeded in getting under his power, the CIA an incredibly useful double agent etc.

Jennifer Lawrence played the role of Dominika incredibly well, making you really feel for her in the situations she is put in and also trust her deductions of people, ultimately the person she is most loyal to is her ill mother with every deal she makes the one condition is keeping her mother safe and ensuring her care. This adds a depth to her character that you don't often get with spies and it adds another element to the story as she won't just uproot and go when she needs to, she wants her mother sorted too.

Joel Edgerton's performance as Nate was also great, he is really convincing in the role of the CIA agent who clearly cares about both the original mole and also Dominika, this is proven when he nearly dies to protect them both.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I thought this was a brilliant film and will definitely watch it again, I will probably notice some things I didn't first time too.

My rating for Red Sparrow is 8.5/10