![]() ![]() But stand-ins for sex or nude scenes don’t create controversy: They’re the stuff of celebrity trivia and clickbait slideshows. To some degree, body doubles are just part of Hollywood’s bag of tricks. Silly, sickening and contrived, Red Sparrow takes obvious advantage of the current anti-Russian sentiments running rampant in American politics, so it’s no surprise that the villains get to steal the picture -especially the terrific Matthias Schoenaerts, who walks the walk and talks the talk with icy resolve, and looks alarmingly like Vladimir Putin.But after the controversy of Black Swan, in which star Natalie Portman’s level of dancing was questioned, issues of authenticity are now scrutinized: No artist who spends two decades training wants to go uncredited-and audiences don’t want to be duped. The all-star cast works hard to bring small, superfluous scenes to life, especially the brief one dominated by Mary-Louise Parker, who comes to a disastrous end as a drunken spy who evokes more laughs than suspense. There isn’t much chemistry between the leads, and their sex scenes don’t sizzle, but the fault lies with the dopey, confusing script by Justin Haythe that fails to develop their characters with any depth or purpose. Lawrence (no relation) goes through her paces valiantly, looking terrific in lavish costumes even with a black eye (I didn’t know Russian spies dressed so elegantly it’s a deadly game but it must pay well). Reunited with director Francis Lawrence, who helmed the last three Hunger Games installments, Ms. ![]() By the time the Russians strip Nate down and drag out what looks like a medieval cheese grater to shred his skin from his body while he screams bloody murder, the film has turned fatally implausible. The torture sequences are so calculatedly gruesome that both of the lovers emerge black and blue from every scene. Trouble is, she’s such a fabulous red sparrow that Nash loses his cool and falls for her sexual power, while she ill-advisedly lowers her guard and falls for his protective alpha-male double role as Daddy and lover, and the door opens for assorted predators, sadists and maniacs to unload an arsenal of weapons and beat both spies senseless. Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joely Richardson, Charlotte Rampling, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, Mary-Louise Parker and Matthias Schoenaerts Written by: Justin Haythe (screenplay) and Jason Matthews (book) operative, Nate Nash (played by the equally miscast Australian, Joel Edgerton), to procure the identity of a mole he nourishes as a double agent (a doubly-wasted Jeremy Irons). The training program is run by a cold, efficient and amoral Communist robot (a sinister but wasted Charlotte Rampling), who is successful enough in her role as matron to turn Dominika into a first-rate whore spy who is raped and mutilated across Budapest, Moscow, Vienna and London tracking an American C.I.A. With her career permanently destroyed, Dominika has to find another way to support her invalid mother (a wasted Joely Richardson), so she turns to her her Uncle Vanya (these are the jokes, folks), a sleazy sexual predator and mass murderer who also happens to be one of Russia’s leading super spies.Ī vision of consummate evil played with fascinating, creepy sensuality by the great Matthias Schoenaerts, Uncle Vanya plots and murders ruthlessly, biding his time until he can get her into bed himself, quickly recruiting his niece into a secret organization dedicated to turning attractive Russian boys and girls into sex machines called Red Sparrows -spies who will do anything with their bodies to seduce their victims into surrendering information. Hot on the heels of the vile, pretentious Mother! she is now woefully miscast as Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballerina who is crippled in mid-stardom by another dancer on the stage of the Bolshoi. ![]()
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