Dean (6926 KP) rated Salt (2010) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
James Koppert (2698 KP) rated Atomic Blonde (2017) in Movies
Dec 23, 2019
Spy Games
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'Authentic, taut and compelling. Brookes is the real deal' Charles Cumming Fearing for his life,...
An Officer and a Spy
8.0
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Book
In the hunt for a spy, he exposed a conspiracy. The winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical...
Dork_knight74 (881 KP) rated Criminal (2016) in Movies
Jul 11, 2019
Official Secrets (2019)
8.0
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The true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA...
Tenet (2020)
7.7
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Spy thriller with SF elements from Christopher Nolan. A covert operative enters a strange world of...
time travel
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Red Sparrow (2018) in Movies
Mar 3, 2018
For, RED SPARROW, is a sexy, intelligent, inner-workings, "out-smart-the-other-guy" type of spy thriller in more of the mode of a John LeCarre novel (like TINKER, TAILOR, SOLIDER, SPY). It does have some action and some GRAPHIC torture scenes, but I would not classify it as an action film, so those looking for that will be bored.
RED SPARROW follows the tale of Bolshoi Ballet Prima Ballerina, Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) who, after an accident ends her ballet career, is drawn into the deadly world of International Intelligence by her Uncle and must her her body as well as her mind to survive.
This is billed - and shot - as a "sexy" thriller with "SEXY" being the primary driving force - and that is too bad, for I found the sex and nudity to be gratuitous and didn't really drive the narrative forward. When the film stopped focusing on this aspect and focused on the mystery - and misdirection - at hand and Dominika's ability to outsmart and outhink those around her, that the film really catches it's footing and is quite good.
Unfortunately, you have to sit through the first 1/2 of this film - the training portion - and that is filled with gratuitous sex and sexual conquest and using your sex to disarm the enemy. It's an unfortunate choice that almost took me out of the movie, so when the (really) good second half of the film came about, I was surprised by it.
But if you can get through that, you'll be rewarded by a pretty good, pretty smart, pretty INTELLIGENT thriller.
Letter Grade: B (C for the 1st half, A for the 2nd half)
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Dean (6926 KP) rated Red Sparrow (2018) in Movies
Mar 8, 2018
The trailer made it seem quite a seductive thriller, whilst it does have some sex scenes and nudity it's gratuitous rather than sexy. It's quite violent and brutal at times with some torture scenes.
Overall the story is interesting but not gripping and the pacing is up and down in the 2nd half of the film. Thankfully the ending was decent and Lawrence does well in a challenging role.