Red Sparrow lets its potential fly away home

The story is there, the pacing is spot on and the film looks great – director Francis Lawrence creates a richly dark world on screen, with the cinematography frame-perfect and fluid – but it doesn’t ever reach its potential and is about 30 minutes too long.

Lawrence delivers a dodgy Russian accent that is distracting as a viewer, but if you can look past that, she is very dynamic on screen and it’s the subtleties in her performance that bolster proceedings. As do the supporting cast, with Jeremy Irons and Ciarán Hinds stealing every scene they are in.