There are many things wrong with the action revenge thriller, The Rhythm Section. The least of which is that very misleading title. With a moniker like that one would likely anticipate a frothy comedic stew of a film. Something along the lines of the plotline in, say, Some Like It Hot. That description couldn’t be farther from what actually transpires although, truth be told, if one were to look hard and long enough some unintentional laughs might be found in the proceedings. Let’s just say that this is a film that surely would have benefited from some frequent injections of humor and not of the unintended variety.
Jude Law and Blake Lively In The Rhythm Section
Blake Lively is an actress whose on screen presence is always welcome but she rarely chooses projects that are worthy of her abilities. The Rhythm Section falls squarely in line with too much of the lackluster material that litters the actress’ resume. She does what she can, but it’s a tall order. Her character arc requires her to go from a well-mannered Brit to an avenging angel in about the amount of time it takes to finish a decent sized load of laundry. She attempts to make the transition believable but it requires more than a small suspension of disbelief.
Stephanie Patrick (Lively) seemingly lives her life in a protective bubble. That is until the bubble is burst when her parents and her sister become victims of a plane crash. Stephanie soon finds out it wasn’t mechanical failure but, rather, the result of a terrorist attack. Inexplicably, Stephanie decides to cope with the situation by entering into prostitution as I suppose you do when faced with a life altering tragedy. After receiving a tip from a helpful journalist she connects with a spy (Jude Law) who knows all the details. The spy gives Stephanie the training she will surely need to get the job done by sending her on globe trotting missions around the world thus allowing the cast and crew to have a nice vacation on the studio dime. What follows is about as predictable as one might expect.
The Rhythm Section is one of the few attempts by producer Barbara Broccoli, currently in charge of the James Bond franchise, to launch something new outside of the 007 universe. If this is what we can expect, my advice would be for Broccoli to stay with that for which she is known.
The Rhythm Section is playing everywhere.
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