Red Sparrow

THE GIST: When the Bolshoi's Prima Ballerina suffers a career-ending accident, she's reluctantly recruited by the Russian Secret Service to become a Res Sparrow, a highly skilled and specialized secret agent. Her first assignment will be to uncover the identity of the mole in the SVR who has been passing information to the CIA.

Red Sparrow is the latest entry in the often revisited secret spy genre (it was released around the same time of the similarly enjoyable Anna).

Overall, the script is tight and well-written, and the story has a few well positioned twists.

Jennifer Lawrence is excellent in the lead, flanked by Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons, and Ciarán Hinds. Mary-Louise Parker plays a small role, similarly to Charlotte Rampling, who is an absolute delight.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Definitely recommended if you like the genre. It's filled with tension and suspense as one would expect.

Grade: 8