Thank you to Paramount for sending me The Rhythm Section movie to review during this crazy lockdown.
Stephanie Patrick veers down a path of self-destruction after a tragic plane crash kills her family.
When Stephanie discovers it wasn’t an accident, she turns to a former CIA operative who can help her find the culprits.
But her quest to uncover the truth soon turns into a full-blown quest for revenge as Patrick decides to punish those responsible.
My 2020 got off to a pretty bad start with The Rhythm Section already being one of 2020’s poorest releases. A movie that not even Blake Lively can save in this rather unlively affair.
An adaptation of the 1999 book from Mark Burnell comes this rather plot-hole ridden and surface-level action flick.
Blake Lively throws herself into every role and this is the only silver lining of the entire feature. Her commitment, acting caliber, and her range completely carries this entire movie.
Lively’s gripping and dogged performance keeps me from turning this film off.
A poor script with laughable dialogue at times, mixed with a rather clunky and messy edit leaves The Rhythm Section completely playing out of tune.
At one point in the movie, the title of the film is explained in great detail. Like, why are you even? Why?!
A movie that is trying so hard to be the next Anna or Lucy as the female badass who lays waste to her male counterparts.
It all feels so forced. Suddenly Jude Law appears to teach Stephanie (Lively) how to be a spy.
This intense training involves one swimming lesson, some bad accuracy shooting and a weird kitchen fight with a knife.
Three of those ‘lessons’ later and now she’s ready for her first mission. It really is lazy screenwriting at its finest.
With not much else being released at the moment I’m trying to enjoy just about anything thrown at me to review. With this one, it certainly was a struggle I know that much.
Jude Law was horrifically miscast in this role. Everything just feels so out of place and unneeded.
What The Rhythm Section does have going for it is some stellar camera work. A whole new perspective of a car chase sequence has me feeling as thou I’m right there in the passenger seat with Stephanie (Lively) as she’s being chased by bad guys.
The fight sequences are all messy as Stephanie is far from a trained assassin. Everything is a bit clunky and weird and confusing.
One scene has a guy who needs oxygen to live in a wheelchair suddenly get up and beat the living daylights out of Stephanie’s character. I have absolutely no idea what that was all about either.
This lightweight and poor feature should be watched once and never, ever again.
Stephanie never really discovers her identity or grows as a character. Her whole reason for doing the things she does aren’t really fulfilled either.
It certainly feels as thou The Rhythm Section is a feature that completely stripped everything that made the book made so memorable.
The Rhythm Section movie review by Sean Evans
The Rhythm section will be available to download and keep from April 13th
Our Rating
Summary
Sadly The Rhythm Section fails to find its own rhythm in this drab, dull affair.
