This is a film that I seem to have seen a trailer for Every. Single. Time I've been to the cinema this year. Following my enjoyment of Atomic Blonde last year, I was keen to see how the fledgling female-action-hero-slash-spy genre was developing. On the face of it, this looks like it should be the Black Widow movie that we don't seem to be getting. Ballet dancers, Russia, spy school, kick ass spy woman, young-adult favourite (Jennifer Lawrence) - it sounds like you should be able to slot Scarlett Johansson into the role and it fit within the MCU. This is not the case.
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| If that's how codebreaking works, you could spell anything |
I really didn't like this and there are lots of reasons why. Firstly, I don't think it was marketed correctly. A casual observer looking at the trailer, the cast, crew (directed by Francis Lawrence of The Hunger Games) and rating (15) may assume that this was for a younger audience, who may be there because of Jennifer Lawrence and the type of films she has previously made (generally pro-women, characters usually defiant under pressure). The poster doesn't suggest otherwise. These entirely reasonable assumptions are incorrect. Lawrence and her colleagues mutter in monotone Russian accents throughout, and all the things that make Lawrence a watchable actress are the things that are stripped out in this film. I can't imagine watching this as a 15 year old and enjoying it.
Secondly, it is incredibly sexist to both men and women. Charlotte Rampling's Matron character advises that Sparrows must learn about their targets, and become their missing pieces so that information can be obtained. But it seems that the only missing piece that a woman can offer is sex. Which is sexist for everyone. It's sexist for all the men in this film to whom Dominika essentially says "Vee haff seggs now?" in a flat Russian accent - that not only a) is that the only thing that men want, but b) that's all that has to happen for them to spill all their State secrets. As for the Sparrow school, the only thing that is taught is sex. Not languages, self-defence, weaponry, espionage or anything else that may be useful. Just sex. Not seduction. Just sex. There is an argument that the point of Sparrow School is to weaponise sexuality and for Dominika to reclaim her body and personality after rapes and attempted rapes. That premise holds for one moment until you remember that if Dominika doesn't go to Sparrow School, she will be murdered because she saw a man be killed (while raping her). More to the point, it seems to be something that is only taught to the women. There are men in the classes, but they aren't the ones asked to perform sex acts in front of their peers.
The direction is also muddled. Francis Lawrence doesn't appear to be showing nudity as titillation (which is good, given the subject matter). Nudity is perfunctory at best. The film is incredibly violent to every character, and it is painful, brutal violence rather than the "walk-it-off" violence of most action films. But...all the men who die horribly, do so fully clothed. All the women who die are in various states of undress when they are killed. All the men who are tortured, get tortured bloodlessly and off screen. When it's the women, the camera points straight at it and doesn't move away. It's so noticeable that it's strange that the director/writers don't seem to be making any point about this. Or failing that, it's strange that no one seems to have watched the film and thought "it appears that I am involved in an incredibly misogynistic film here".
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| J-Law's face usually... |
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| I prefer this one... |
- As with Breaking Bad, this would have been much shorter if the NHS was in place.
- Is Jennifer Lawrence trying to shake her YA persona? Between this and Mother!, these are two very distinctly different films from her usual "type", and both have been very divisive.
- The ending was pretty decent, but after nearly 2 1/2 hours of dislike, it was too little too late for me.
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