I only had time for one film on March 3, so I had to choose between “Red Sparrow” and the new version of “Death Wish.” I chose the Jennifer Lawrence bloodbath over the Bruce Willis carnage. That was a very limited choice; I suspect I would have been nauseated by either film.
I have never read the trilogy upon which “Red Sparrow” is based, and I am in no mood to read them. The film is brutal beyond belief and has very few redeeming qualities. The plot is complicated, but I saw through it within 40 minutes. The cast is adequate, but the sadistic violence overwhelms everything and everybody.
The film has an R rating and, in my puritanical opinion, should have had an NC-17 rating.