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Red Sparrow (2018)

Red Sparrow is about a Russian ballerina who must work for her government. Her mission: to get information out of an American who has a mole in the Russian administration.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the same man who brought you The Hunger Games and I am Legend, Lawrence does a great job with the flow of the film. For films that are thrillers and mysteries, the problem is having the audience figure out the ending before the climax. The way the film is edited and used allows a smart audience member to be tricked into thinking it is one person when it was someone else the entire time. Great direction.

This, other than Mother! is the hardest role I believe that Jennifer Lawrence has ever done. She has a pretty trying and rather quick transition from ballerina to Jason Bourne, Black Widow, completely-awesome heroine. She is smart and willing to go the distance to make sure that she and her mother are happy. I can't really go into more details without spoiling her character. Just know she does a great job being vulnerable and awesome at different times.

Joel Edgerton does a better performance than I was expecting. The last time I saw him was in Bright and I wasn't impressed. He was really great in The Gift. He plays a predictable but also smart government agent who makes a big mistake in the beginning but is needed to keep the cover of his mole.

This film was the best I've seen Jeremy Irons since Die Hard with a Vengence. He can convey so much with just his face it's really remarkable even if he's not in the film that much compared to the other two.

Result: A- (One of the best movies so far this year. That's not saying much but it is in theaters now.)
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