Red Sparrow

This complex espionage thriller stars Jennifer Lawrence as Dominika, a former ballerina who becomes a "sparrow", schooled in the art of seduction by the shadowy military of post-Cold War Russia. However, her superiors suspect she may be acting as a double agent, collaborating with the very CIA operative she was assigned to entrap, setting the scene for an intriguing series of cat-and-mouse plot twists. Director Francis Lawrence keeps viewers gripped and guessing throughout in a surprisingly violent film that merges modern technology with more traditional spy movie motifs, his namesake lead actor's impassive face offering few clues. There are power games aplenty in a potentially confusing narrative, with solid support from Matthias Schoenaerts and Jeremy Irons as manipulative puppet masters in Moscow's intelligence service. But it's Lawrence, in one of the most demanding roles of her career, who stands out.