Red Sparrow (紅雀) is an 2018 film. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence. The supporting cast include Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Irons. The film unites Jennifer Lawrence with her Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence.
Lawrence plays a ballet dancer that turns to a life in the shadows when an injury ends her career. Forced to provide for invalid mother, she begins a life for mother Russia to provide for her. After some brutal training to become a sparrow, she's given a mission that will make or break her.
Lawrence plays a Russian spy. This is in essence Black Widow's origin story. Forced into a life of spying, it was the R rated version of what would have been a Marvel movie without the super heroes. The movie goes for the graphic and I am surprised by Lawrence's willingness to do these type of movies. Is it because she's bored. But she stars in so many films per year, she's maybe just keeping busy.
I got the movie via T-Mobile Tuesday's Redbox free rental. I would not want to rent this ever unless it were free.
Zero Dark Thirty (00:30凌晨密令) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Jessica Chastain. The supporting cast include Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Kyle Chandler, Harold Perrineau, Joel Edgerton, and Chris Pratt. The film was based on the CIA's search and eventual take down of Osama bin Laden (UBL) after the 9/11 attacks.
Jessica Chastain plays Maya. Maya is sent to Pakistan to find UBL. We are introduced to water boarding interrogations to get information out of captives. Maya goes from one lead to the next and latches on to one pertaining to Abu Ahmed. From there, the lead goes on for years until around 2010 when they get a break in the case. The break eventually leads to Maya finding UBL.
This movie was pretty gritty and Chastain is front and center for the majority of the film. And Chastain does an amazing job. She is the jewel of the current crop of female actors in her generation. I kind of remember Julia Ormond and Claire Forlani sort of breaking out from nowhere. However, those two relied on romantic films. Chastain does it all. Her resume of films starting in 2011 is more than impressive and enough for many careers. However, I think this is just a start for her. I expect her to have another great run for the next few years.
Back to the movie. The story itself is linear and tells of how Maya chases leads after leads. It exposes the lives of those chasing and the causalities of this chase. We see in Maya a parallel of how the sentiment in the states were. Starting out as tentative and becoming a master of tradecraft. Getting the job done.
I recommend the movie and its made me more impressed with Kathryn Bigelow. From Point Break to The Hurt Locker, Bigelow's resume can stand the test of time. Not quantity, but quality.
Warrior (戰士) is an 2011 film. The movie stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton. The supporting cast includes Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, and Frank Grillo.
Tom Hardy plays a ex-marine that's gone back home, named Tommy. Tommy's return home isn't warm or fuzzy. In fact, it's a shock to his formally abusive father, Paddy, played by Nick Nolte. Tommy joins a former boxing gym turned MMA gym around the corner to start working out. While there, Tommy knocks out one of the top 10 fighters in his weight class and it goes "viral". From that notoriety, he's asked to join a grand prix type tournament put on by the Tap Out folks. In another neighborhood, Paddy's other older son, Brendan is an school teacher trying to make ends meat. Brendan looks for a second job and ends up losing his primary job when he's beat up bad. Brendan was a former primetime MMA fighter that didn't have much success. Now, a bit older and in need of money, he travels the night circuits to make money. When he's about to lose his house to foreclosure, Brendan also joins the Grand Prix. It's only when the brackets are annouced that Brendan and Tommy see they're fighting each other.
Like many people in the 1990s, I rented and watch UFC 1 and UFC 2. They were such spectacles back then. Settling the age old questions of Karate vs. Sumo and so forth. However, when the grapplers took over, I quickly found it boring and stopped watching. However, face forward to the mid 2000s. Reality shows like the Ultimate Fighter and the IFL started to sprout up on cable. Eventually leading to EliteXC being on CBS. Since around 2007, I've be a regular follower. I follow MMA like I follow the NBA and NFL. I follow MMA more than MLB now. As I haven't had any martial arts training since elementary school, I am only a fan of MMA. But I am a very knowledgable fan. I pretty much can hang with any regular MMA fan for hours. The movie from the MMA front was pretty entertaining. It was actually pretty realistic and they had true life MMA fighters in some of the fights.
In all, the movie was very good. It's an story of two brothers that had a family tragedy, moved on in their lives, and are trying to reconcile their relationship in the aftermath of a reformed abusive alcoholic father. The MMA just adds to the uniqueness of the film and the glue to the overall storyline.
