Red Joan Reviews

To be honest, I had no idea what this movie was about but since it was starring Judi Dench, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, at some point, I did hear about this Russian spy who had worked undercover in England for decades and it was definitely a strong story with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it was slightly disappointing that, even though they mentioned that it was indeed based on a true story, it was so loosely based on what actually happened that pretty much everything was actually made up. I mean, when they start even changing the name of the main character then you can be sure that they will seriously deviate from what actually took place. Furthermore, even though Judi Dench was displayed prominently on all the promotional material, they actually really struggled to give her anything to do through the whole duration. On the other hand, Sophie Cookson was actually pretty good and I did appreciate the fact that they really did try to develop this character and explain why she did what she did. Indeed, it went beyond a simple infatuation with some Russian agent and she really believed that she would ensure a better world by helping the USSR to also get the atomic bomb. Still, it’s too bad the movie spent too much time with her romantic intrigues, indeed, with some Russian agent and with her co-worker who would eventually become her husband. It would have been so much more interesting if they had developed more the motivations behind the actions of the other characters such as Leo, Sonya and William. Anyway, to conclude, even if the movie itself was not really great, it was still dealing with a rather fascinating story and, only therefore, I think it is actually worth a look.