Goggins is the only bright spark here, channeling a little bit of Vaas from Far Cry, but his villain is too stereotypically written to care much. The search for the genuinely good video game adaptation continues, and you’re better off playing the Tomb Raider game at home rather than expecting something decent from this film.

It is ultimately quite an achievement to render something fresh in the vastly milked ‘coming of age’ genre. It is nice to see Gerwig break through as a director and it makes one excited about what film she makes next – it is rare to see a filmmaker with such a grasp on a story’s soul, although one does hope she tackles a story with a little more depth next.

Director Francis Lawrence burst onto the scene with interesting titles like Constantine and I am Legend a decade ago — it’s disappointing to see him tackle insipid stuff like the Hunger Games movies and now Red Sparrow.

This dark comedy mystery isn’t as polished as something like a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but it’s nice to see this kind of an irreverent film in an era where comedy movies compromise on intellect or craft. This is a rare comedy that doesn’t require you to wade through the muck to find one or two laughs — it’s a genuinely well made film with repeat value, so head to the theaters now.

The final scene of the film is not what you expect in a thriller, but that’s the beauty of watching an unconventional film like this – you get to marinate the film inside your mind, mull it over, decide along the way home if what just happened was just an abrupt open ending or logically (and socially) the perfect method to tie it up all together.

We’re lucky to have this film release in theaters, whether you’re a film geek or not you should be booking your tickets right about now.

So watch the film, be awed by the painterly visual palette it offers, be swept away by the emotions it renders. There are unfortunately a few cuts imposed by our beloved CBFC but don’t let that deter you from experiencing a magical time at the cinema.

Ultimately this is a hard movie to recommend – it does attempt some important themes but it’s overlong and just too cheerless to sit through considering the lack of ingenuity within the narrative. The only real question it poses is why Rosamund Pike’s career hasn’t taken off since the three year old Gone Girl. She delivers a phenomenal performance here as well and deserves more interesting projects.

Contrast this to a film like United 93 which is a masterpiece in the genre that this film explores – because unlike Eastwood, Paul Greengrass focuses on character and tension rather than jingoistic overtones even with a no name cast. In this film Eastwood declares an ‘it was meant to be’ undercurrent into the incident, portraying the three heroes as angels who were part of a mystic prophesy to thwart the Islamic infidels.

There were elements of horror and mystery in the previous installments — which set it apart from boring siblings like the Divergent films — and had director Wes Ball employed a similar small scale approach this could actually have been a worthwhile revisit to the film’s world. The zombie stuff is present but treated with a blockbuster palette — and by going with big scale action set pieces set in generic beats the film becomes an overlong and unworthy finale to something that seemed like it had potential. At this point we should just be thankful that the film wasn’t split in two climactic parts like many of its peers.

January is most known for being Hollywood’s trash can and the only thing The Commuter succeeds in doing is solidifying this stereotype.