In the new spy thriller Red Sparrow, Jennifer Lawrence plays a Russian woman who, after getting mixed up in what looks to be a KGB operation, finds herself forced to become a sparrow. Basically she’s trained to become an elite agent whose skills in the art of seduction are as lethal as her killing ability. The whole thing kinda looks like an extended riff on Black Widow’s backstory in the Avengers movies, only with a little less ballet.
The film reunites Lawrence with that other Lawrence, Francis, the one who directed her in three Hunger Games movies. It’s based on the books by former CIA operative Jason Matthews, and if you’ve read his stuff then you know he gets down to the tiniest detail on the spy game. Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, and Mary-Louise Parker make up one Hell of a supporting cast. Here’s the official synopsis:
Dominika Egorova is many things.
A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs.
A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit.
A master of seductive and manipulative combat.
When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.
Red Sparrow hits theaters on March 2nd.
