Justin Haythe

Red Sparrow

First Hit:  Although long at 2h 19min, it had enough twists, turns, and detail to keep me fully engaged.

Jennifer Lawrence (here as Dominika Egorova) is a strong actress and is able to project anger, sadness, and determination with only her eyes. It is this skill that sets her apart from many actresses.

As a Russian ballet dancer Dominika is revered more for her beauty than her dancing. However, she is good enough for the ballet company to give her an apartment and provide medical help for her sick mother. Her uncle Vanya Egorov (Matthias Schoenaerts) is part of Russian Intelligence and occasionally looks in on Dominika and her mom Nini (Joely Richardson).

When Dominika breaks her leg, Vanya recruits her to work for Russian Intelligence. He wants her because of her steely determination. He promises here that if she joins him, he’ll make arrangements for her mom to keep the apartment and her medical assistance.

Her first job is to seduce Dimitry Ustinov (Kristof Konrad). When he tries to rape Dominika, Russian Intelligence kills him while he’s on top of her. Because of her success she’s recruited to become a Sparrow. Sparrows use seduction and sex to get what they want from the people they seduce. They are trained in passionless seduction, hand to hand combat and how to use guns.

The Headmistress (Charlotte Rampling) of the Sparrow school is referred to as “Matron.” And it is her goal to make sure they become passionless seducers and combat ready spies.

Dominika is sent on a mission to Budapest to seduce American spy Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton). The goal is to find out the Russian Intelligence mole he was working with so that this mole can be destroyed.

Throughout the film, we see Dominika developing a path and plan to survive and persevere while keeping her mom’s health, safety, and welfare on her mind. However, as an audience member, we don’t always know what her plan is and how it will work out. That's the best part of this film. The unknowing, underscored with believing that Dominika will, in the end, get revenge, makes this story work.

Lawrence was excellent as the cold-hearted Sparrow who had a soul. I didn’t fully buy her being a premiere ballerina (jumps were barely 6 inches high), but this was completely overshadowed by her ability to embody the role as a spy. Rampling was perfect as the cold-hearted Matron of the Sparrow school. Edgerton was strong as the American spy who risked his life to keep his mole secret. Richardson was good as Dominika’s mom. Mary-Louise Parker (as Stephanie Boucher) was strong in her role as a US Senator’s Chief of Staff. Jeremy Irons (as General Vladimir Andreievich Korchnoi) was perfect. His cold intimidating voice and manner worked well. Justin Haythe wrote a good complicated screenplay. Director Francis Lawrence did a good of not tipping the story’s hand.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film’s puzzle and it was the acting that made it work.

The Lone Ranger

First Hit:  This film is a waste of the audiences’ time and Walt Disney would have never approved of releasing something like this.

The plot is mediocre, the acting is mediocre, the characters are poorly drawn-out, the concept is second-rate and it is painful to watch.

Briefly; John Reid (Armie Hammer) is an intellectual guy who grew up in the in the southwest and gets deputize by his brother to find a killer named Bruce Cavendish (William Fichtner). He gets shot and is left for dead.

Tonto (Johnny Depp) is a Comanche ousted by his tribe but decides to save Reid. Together they make up a team that tries to write the wrongs of Cavendish, railroad builder Cole (Tom Wilkinson) and the US Government’s actions towards the Native Americans.

Through a convoluted story line, we have Tonto being somewhat smart and serious, working to assist a slightly dimwitted Reid (AKA Lone Ranger) to right these wrongs. Yes, the concept is poor and way too big for the characters.

Hammer is not interesting in this leading role. And, although he's in the leading role, he is not the leading character. Depp is more interesting, appears to be the leading character, but seeing high-tech tattoos (his back and front) in a couple of scenes, made me realize that even good makeup doesn’t always work. This showed part of the flaws and the lack of carefulness of this film. Fichtner is meanly good enough to be a villain. Wilkinson is OK as someone who is only to get as much as he can. Ruth Wilson (as Rebecca Reid – John’s brothers’ wife) is one of the better characters and holds her part of the film together very well. Justin Haythe and Ted Elliot wrote a convoluted, unmanageable, and almost unfilmable screenplay. Gore Verbinski directed this like he did Pirates of the Caribbean films and the problem is he forgot that the Lone Ranger is a TV legend while the pirates weren’t.

Overall:  This film can be passed over and it will not matter except to the people who invested in it because they will probably lose money.

Snitch

First Hit:  That Dwayne Johnson didn’t break out into a fist fight and violent rage added to this films intrigue.

Johnson  has shown in numerous films he has some range. Here, because of this size and build, I expected him to beat the crap out of his antagonists, but he didn’t.

Playing John Mathews in this film as a once divorced father of two children. His son Jason Collins (Rafi Gavron), by his first wife, gets into trouble and his integrity won’t let him rat out someone else for a lighter prison term. Seeing his son beaten from an altercation while in prison, Mathews decides to assist the government’s prosecutor Joanne Keeghan (played by Susan Sarandon) catch a bigger fish so that he can get his son’s sentence reduced.

To do this he befriends Daniel James (played by Jon Bernthal), an employee who has a felony history. Through this connection he finds himself in the think of a drug deal. How he decides to make the deal work for everyone requires him to create his own plan to save his family.

Johnson does a really good job of not using his size and bulk to make the role work; he uses his head and heart to make his character real enough. Gavron does a very good job of being the forgotten son that also wants to do right. Sarandon is OK as the prosecutor. Bernthal is really good as the guy who’s trying to do right for his family. Barry Pepper is wonderful and powerful as a federal agent. Melinda Kanakaredes is almost a bit over dramatic as Johnson’s first wife. Justin Haythe and Ric Roman Waugh wrote a fairly strong script from what based as a true story. Waugh also directed this film and generally it was well paced.

Overall:  Entertaining and shows Johnson’s willingness to continue to grow as an actor.

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