So this movie is probably a 2, but I love Jennifer Lawrence, so it bumps it up a couple. I think she's pretty great in this movie, even though there are some issues. It's a pretty good movie overall, I think. I enjoy movies about people coping with extraordinary situations. It does paint a rather bleak picture of life in Russia that is a tad darker than reality, I'd argue. But still, this is the world the movie is set in. If you enjoy movies that are a bit like James Bond, only with more nudity and less chase scenes, this might be for you.
Red Sparrow tells the tale of a ballerina that gets injured and is faced with the darkness of life in Russia. She decides to accept an offer from her spy uncle to get into the spy business. This quickly descends into 'getting sent to whore school', however, and she's struggling to keep a piece of herself in this awful situation. She's smart, manipulative, and a survivor, though, and puts herself into an environment that she has a bit more control over while tasked with getting information from an American spy about a mole in the Russian ranks. It's a constant battle over which side she's on and how she'll survive.
As I said, I really enjoy seeing cool characters go through extraordinary situations, so this is my kind of movie. It does have a lot of nudity, which surprised me. Personally, I think that took away from the movie, but I guess it does show the degradation of the character (and her growing strength while trying to survive in this awful environment). This movie is probably not for most people. It's rated R for good reason. There's nudity, sexuality, violence, strong language, and rape. Still, it's an interesting character study with a good amount of intrigue and deception. If you can handle the R stuff and like a good spy movie, you'll probably enjoy this.