Jennifer Lawrence re-teams with Francis Lawrence, who directed her in three installments of “The Hunger Games” franchise, for “Red Sparrow.” A trailer has arrived for the anticipated spy thriller, and in its first few seconds Lawrence seems to be playing a role very unlike Katniss Everdeen. She’s wearing a glamorous red dress with perfect hair and make up, and is sitting passively on a bed when a man enters the room, puts cash on the nightstand, and orders her to take off her dress. But there’s more to the picture. And it quickly becomes clear that like Katniss, Lawrence’s character in “Red Sparrow” has a lot going on under the surface — and she’s a fierce force to be reckoned with.
“When I was in Moscow I heard about a program,” a voiceover explains. “Young officers trained to seduce and manipulate. To use their bodies. To use everything. Call them Sparrows — that’s what she is.”
Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova, who is, according to the film’s official synopsis, “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.”
Now Dominika is left figuring out how to reconcile the past and the present,
“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.”
It looks like Dominika is going to kick a lot of ass in “Red Sparrow,” and while the trailer may cause some to roll their eyes — yes, another movie where a female spy relies heavily on her sexuality — it seems as though Dominka won’t just be portrayed as a pretty face who knows her way around weapons. And it’s not unlikely that “Red Sparrow” will tackle the fact that, as the film’s summary details, Dominka was manipulated into using her body as a Sparrow.
“Red Sparrow” bows March 2, 2018. Joel Edgerton (“Loving”), Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”), and Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”) co-star.
Lawrence’s “mother!” hits theaters this Friday, September 15. The controversial movie sees Lawrence and Javier Bardem playing a couple living in a remote house who receive uninvited guests.
