Film Review Round-Up: Red Sparrow, Game Night & Gringo (2018)

So the UK fell victim to the "Beast from the East" last week and my area was hit with snow pretty badly, which meant that I could neither get to work or the cinema. I wasn't able to bring you a film review last week as a result, so I've been playing catch-up and this week I present another of my patented review round-ups - three shorter than usual reviews, but hopefully just as informative. First up is Jennifer Lawrence's spy thriller Red Sparrow, then we join Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams for the hilarious Game Night, before finishing with David Oyelowo's adventures in Mexico with Gringo. Let's go!

For the motherland . . .

Red Sparrow (15)

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts

Director: Francis Lawrence

The Plot: Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) is a Russian ballerina whose career is cut short after a leg injury. After she recovers, she's approached by her uncle Vanya (Schoenaerts), a director in Russian intelligence, with an offer: train to become a "Sparrow" - elite spies who use seduction to infiltrate - and he will arrange for her sick mother to be taken care of. Dominika agrees and, after undergoing the training, is given her first assignment in Budapest - win the trust of an American spy (Edgerton), in order to gain the name of a Russian mole high up in the intelligence service. A complicated web of deception begins as Dominika starts to play both sides . . .

Review: Jennifer Lawrence reunites with Francis Lawrence, who directed her in three of the Hunger Games films, for this spy thriller that many are calling the Black Widow film that Marvel never made. It's a watchable film that's just good, not excellent: it has a terrific cast that also includes Jeremy Irons, Ciaran Hinds and Charlotte Rampling (who's excellent as the Matron of the Sparrow school), the performances are mostly good all-round, and it's beautifully shot. Unfortunately there are also questionable Russian accents, a plot that becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of as Dominika continually switches sides, and at two hours and twenty minutes a runtime that could use some trimming down. It's also a shame that, despite that run time, we only spend fifteen minutes at best with Dominika's training at the Sparrow school - I would liked to have seen more time devoted to that aspect of the story.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

An enjoyable enough spy thriller that's let down by an overly long, complicated story and some questionable Russian accents. That said, Lawrence is (unsurprisingly) very good, the cast is strong and it's visually superb. Worth your time.

Game on!

Game Night (15)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler

Director: Mark Perez

The Plot: Max (Bateman) and Annie (McAdams) are a super-competitive husband and wife who love winning any kind of game (board games, video games, etc), and whose social calendar revolves around "game nights" with a close group of friends. When Max's successful brother Brooks (Chandler) comes to town, he invites their group to his house for a game night of his own - he's hired a company to stage his kidnapping, and the group must solve clues to find him. Unknown to them, however, Brooks is actually a smuggler and he gets kidnapped in front of them for real - the group play along, believing it's all fake, and Max and Annie are determined to win, unaware of the real danger they're in . . .

Review: Game Night is a terrific comedy film and the funniest one I've seen this year. Don't let my description of the plot fool you - it's not a serious film in any aspect, and the jokes come thick and fast throughout. Bateman and McAdams are both fantastic - they have a great chemistry together and bounce lines off each other really well - and they're supported by a very likable, funny cast. Lamorne Morris (who I'm a fan of from New Girl) has a great running sub-plot where he and his wife argue over her having slept with a fake Denzel Washington, and I also liked Billy Magnussen as their stupid friend Ryan. Jesse Plemons steals the show, however, as their monotone cop neighbour who has more to do with the story than you'd think. This isn't the kind of film that you come to for the quality of the plot, although to the films credit it's a fun one, but what you get is a hilarious film with a very likable group of characters. I loved it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The funniest film I've seen this year. It won't win any awards for the plot, but it really doesn't matter as that's not what you're here for. A likable bunch of characters led by the excellent pairing of Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams make this a real winner. Highly recommended!

Welcome to Mexico . . .

Gringo (15)

Starring: David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Sharlto Copley

Director: Nash Edgerton

The Plot: Harold Soyinka (Oyelowo) is an honest, decent man who works for a pharmaceutical company owned by his "friend" Richard Rusk (Edgerton). On a business trip to Mexico to visit one of their suppliers, Harold learns some horrible truths: Richard and his business partner Elaine (Theron) are planning to sell the company, he's going to be fired, and his wife is having an affair with Richard. Harold snaps and decides to fake his own kidnapping, sparking off a disastrous and hilarious chain of events that involves him crossing paths with a good-natured tourist (Seyfried) and being hunted by both a Mexican cartel and a former special forces soldier (Copley) that Richard sends to retrieve him . . .

Review: This is an excellent dark comedy that features a terrific cast. After his brilliant performance in 2015's Selma, it's great to see Oyelowo show off his comedic chops here - Harold is an extremely likable character who's completely out of his depth and very funny as a result. Both Theron and Edgerton do a great job as Elaine and Richard, two vile human beings who will do anything for success and to keep themselves on top, Seyfried is likable in her small role and the great Sharlto Copley is fantastic as Richard's brother Mitch, the former solider sent to retrieve Harold. The film moves along at a brisk pace and features a surprising amount of action, and it's genuinely funny throughout. Really good!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
A dark, funny film that features a surprising amount of action. A great cast that spark off of each other well propels the story along, anchored by a genuinely funny and likable turn from David Oyelowo. Well worth your time.