By

Red Sparrow

A Bolshoi prima ballerina breaks a leg and is (naturally) sent to a government whore school to learn how to use her wiles as weapons. While Jennifer Lawrence’s sheer star presence can make any film compulsively watchable, I’m kind of disappointed she chose to take on such a pointless, pervy actioner built on a theme […]

A Bolshoi prima ballerina breaks a leg and is (naturally) sent to a government whore school to learn how to use her wiles as weapons. While Jennifer Lawrence’s sheer star presence can make any film compulsively watchable, I’m kind of disappointed she chose to take on such a pointless, pervy actioner built on a theme of brutal sexual degradation. Frequent rapes, torture, leering exploitation and other acts of gratuitous violence against women pepper this poorly written non-thriller between spy-movie clichés. I kept expecting Boris and Natasha to show up. Or Donald Trump. Please, Jen. No sequels. (140 min)