RED SPARROW Gets A Decidedly R-Rated First Trailer

Over at The Playlist, they're quoting director Francis Lawrence as saying the following about his next project, Red Sparrow:

“It’s definitely R. When I read the book and I made the pitch to the studio about what the approach would be, this was a definite R. Nobody’s chickened out or got cold feet, everybody’s gone for it from the beginning. It’s a hard R.”

I read this quote before I watched the trailer below and thought, "Say word? Alrighty, then. Let's see what you got, FLaw and JLaw."  

As you can see, Francis Lawrence was not blowing smoke: Red Sparrow looks like a legitimately violent, hard-R sensual thriller, the kinda thing we used to see a lot more of back in the '90s (see also: Color Of Night, Jade, Sliver, Basic Instinct). And it's a spy movie? AND it reunites Jennifer Lawrence and her Hunger Games director? AND it's got ya boi Joel Edgerton in it? Oh, buddy, consider me sold. 

The film's based on a novel of the same name (the first in a trilogy, apparently) by Jason Matthews. Here's an official plot synopsis:

"Dominika Egorova is many things. A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs. A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit. A master of seductive and manipulative combat. When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust."

Having not read the novel on which Red Sparrow's based, I'm getting sort of a La Femme Nikita/Point Of No Return vibe here. Maybe some of you who've read the book already can tell me if I'm on the right track in the comments below.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more on Red Sparrow as we get closer to the film's 2018 release date. Pretty intrigued by this one, folks.