Agent Palmer

Anna, directed by Luc Besson, cast/has three legit stars in it: Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, and Cillian Murphy. After a failed relationship ends suddenly, she is recruited by the KGB. After a year in training and two in the field, she learns the promise of freedom after five years of service is a lie. She is also a successful model between jobs, and working dual professions is hard on her.

Under the thumb of the KGB, including her handler, Alex (Evans) and intelligence officer, Olga (Mirren), she is a precise and methodical killer.

Red Sparrow is a great addition to the world of cinematic spy fiction. And yet, because the film is so good and so close to the origins of Marvel’s Black Widow, it’s hard to see this as anything more than Marvel being painted into a corner.

But before I get too far into the weeds on that, let me first talk about the film on its own, based upon a novel of the same name by Jason Matthews which I haven’t yet read.

It’s a rare and out of print book, but I kept an eye out for it on eBay for a while… Then it popped back up on my radar and within a price, I would reasonably pay.

It’s interesting that I had read the parody or spoof of this book How to Archer first, but there’s something about reading the straight-laced version, especially in today’s social and cultural climate that makes this feel almost like a spoof of itself, more so than what Archer did. However, it’s just a relic of its time.