JENNIFER Lawrence is one Hollywood’s elite actors right now.

An actress who in the past six years alone has tackled genres varying from big budget blockbusters (The Hunger Games), award winning dramas (she won an Oscar for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook) and controversial horror flicks (Mother!) but now she is attempting to rejuvenate the spy genre in Francis Lawrence’s espionage thriller Red Sparrow.

Lawrence plays ballerina Dominika Egorova, who following a career ending injury is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon.

Her first mission is to target C.I.A. agent Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton plays this fantastically titled character) who has made contact with a mole in Moscow.

What follows however, is a frustratingly disappointing movie.

A film neither too bad to be enjoyable or good enough to memorable, it just ends up being a bleak, slow burn of a thriller saved from total disaster by a committed Jennifer Lawrence.

We’ve seen her do action before in The Hunger Games and X-Men franchises but never like this.

Lawrence shows a vulnerability beneath her characters tough exterior which really makes Dominika feel real.

During some hard to watch sequences involving rape and torture attempts, you are truly on the edge of your seat rooting for Dominka to escape and survive.

Rocking a surprisingly consistent Russian accent, Lawrence is dedicated to the role giving it everything she’s got.

It is just a shame the script isn’t up to the same standard as the lead, with the lack of time given for the audience to dig deeper in to her character’s personal life being a particular frustration.

The problem lies more with the sheer lack of chemistry she shares with co-star Joel Edgerton.

Edgerton is a consistently good actor, and he is once again a likeable presence and commanding leading man but his relationship with Lawrence feels gratuitous and rushed. Both characters are depicted as top candidates within their organisations, meaning you’d think they’d hold more of a guard up on one another instead of simply falling for each other fairly quickly.

The action is few and far between, instead leading the way to violence in more unnerving areas. There are numerous sequences of torture, non-consensual sex attempts and men hitting women, all areas which some viewers may find unsettling.

But credit to Francis Lawrence (who directed Jennifer in the last 3 Hunger Games films) for not holding back and making it feel as real and gritty as possible.

He has also shot the movie very impressively, with many scenes being gorgeous on the eye.

Throughout it is striking to behold and it is a big shame that the screenplay itself wasn’t up to the same standard as the beautiful direction.

It has similarities to last year’s underrated action flick Atomic Blonde, but whereas Blonde knew exactly what it was (a fun if silly take on the Cold War) Sparrow struggles to really realise itself.

Some of the gloomier elements intended to haunt you instead become unintentionally funny, mostly from the utter madness of what is portrayed on screen.

There are a number of scenes which don’t deliver like the film thinks they do, a prime example being a third act fight sequence involving knives which should have had real stakes but instead felt dopey and sloppy.

There are certainly some heart racing moments, an early murder is especially excellent but by the end, the film becomes so muddled and tied in knots that it just completely lost me.

There aren’t enough old-fashioned thrillers such as Red Sparrow anymore, and it was great to experience a new take on the spy genre such as this, but this sadly still falls far too short of its potential.

Verdict: A harrowing yet hollow take on the spy genre, Sparrow has a committed Lawrence in front and behind the camera but suffers from a lacklustre script, far too long run time and any sense of memorability.

Best Moment: Dominka’s first assignment doesn’t go the way she plans, but help is close at hand.

Rating: 6.5/10