BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Rhythm Section takes it name from some advice that Iain Boyd (Jude Law, Captain Marvel, Dom Hemmingway) gives to his assassin-in-training Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively, A Simple Favor, Café Society) regarding how breath and heart rate control are crucial in shooting accurately.
Stephanie wants to learn assassin skills very badly as she is out for revenge on the terrorists responsible for the plane crash that killed her family members. That journey and the transformation that it works on Patrick are the most compelling parts of the story of The Rhythm Section.
Patrick has been spiraling down in the three years since the crash. She has an epic case of survivor’s guilt and has become a drug-using prostitute. When she’s approached by Journalist Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey, Cliffs of Freedom, The Rendezvous) to help in his research about the crash and the terrorists behind it, she decides to help, but with her own agenda.
Once she finds of that not only is the bomb-maker responsible remains un-apprehended, and is nearby, Stephanie buys a gun and goes off to kill him. She freezes and can’t to it, so the bomb-maker escapes.
When she returns to Proctor’s apartment, she finds him murdered. Patrick flees and ends up at the remote farmhouse where Proctor’s MI-6 informant, Boyd, live. Boyd is not happy to see her, but eventually agrees to train her to become an assassin. Patrick takes to the training, but soon realizes that there is a lot of killing necessary to wreak her revenge.
The best story arc in The Rhythm Section is Patrick’s; the story of how an ordinary woman can rise from the depths of despair and become someone extraordinary.
Portraying this character is where Lively absolutely shines, and this is frankly the very best part of The Rhythm Section. It’s a nuanced, detailed and compelling performance at a level that can be hard to find in action thriller. The scenes that Lively shares with Law are some of the best in the film and make the movie something worth sitting through.
See, the problem with The Rhythm Section is, frankly, one of rhythm. While there are some exciting fight scenes and a car chase that was reasonably thrilling, for some reason, the movie seems a bit plodding here and there.
On balance, Lively’s performance elevates things enough where the film-goer can tolerate the slow parts.
Director Reed Morano’s (I Think We’re Alone Now) direction, while flawed in terms of overall pacing, can be credited for putting Lively’s performance and her character’s transformation front and center.
Novelist Mark Burnell wrote the screenplay from his novel of the same name, the first his Stephanie Patrick series, so one might be hopeful that there will be a sequel.
The Rhythm Section may have a slower beat, and a pacing unusual for an action flick, but Lively’s performance and her interactions with Law can sustain us through the more reflective bits. The Rhythm Section is easily worth 3 and a half out of 5 stars.
The Rhythm Section is rated R for violence, sexual content, language throughout, and some drug use and runs 109 minutes.
Our next film tries to be a stylish and atmospheric retelling of a classic fairy tale.
Gretel and Hansel (yeah, they flipped the names around) forces us to ask the question, "Can you make an old fairy tale stylish by flipping the names around, and can you make it atmospheric by turning down the lights?"
Sophia Lillis (It, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase) and Alice Krige (Ghost Story, Star Trek: First Contact) star in this fairy tale that is apparently grim (see what I did there?) in more ways than one.
Gretel and Hansel is directed by Osgood Perkins (I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House) and is Rated PG-13 for disturbing images/thematic content, and brief drug material. It runs 87 minutes.
And now for some cinema that’s completely different.
Weathering with You is a full length Japanese anime feature that has at least one critic saying it’s “right as rain.” It’s getting many other kinds of praise as well and is rated PG-13 for suggestive material, some violence and language. Oh, it’s subtitled, but that won’t stop the true international film fan. I’ll be stopping in to see it this weekend.
I'm Larry Haneberg, and I'm taking you 2 The Movies.