'The Rhythm Section' Review: Blake Lively as a flawed revenge-driven killer is the lone bright spot in this film
Spoilers for 'The Rhythm Section'
Reed Morano's dark, gritty, bloody revenge mission puts a tattered and battered Blake Lively in the midst of the action and almost every action sequence sees her barely make it out in one piece. One of them is thick shards of glass buried in her palms and she claws her way to killing an assassin all the while writhing and groaning in pain, and a massive dose of motivation. Mark Burnell's Stephanie Patrick novels are pulpy and this one's borrowed from the first of the four novels.
Like we said, Lively as Stephanie gets off by the skin of her teeth and the character's tragic flashback as a junkie and prostitute doesn't help her case. Fair that the motivation stems from the fact she has nothing to lose, but what fails her is her lack of exposure, preparation and skill levels to survive in insanely dangerous environments. It's not easy not flinching each time she gets pummeled, boxed and bludgeoned, somehow that she doesn't die is a bit of a relief.
And for those who thought this would receive Bond Style treatment considering Eon Productions was involved, the only thing similar is the Scottish theme and surroundings that we see in 'Skyfall'. It's hard to compare Stephanie to any CIA agent for that matter. Not because Stephanie is a sophisticated, suave fighter, she's a rather dirty one. She's a far cry from what a slick agent would be and for good reason perhaps.
The movie opens with Stephanie on a mission to end a threat responsible for the death of her family, a past which is explained in the first 30 minutes of the film. And for all the fury, the pain and the depression that came with it, she desperately eggs herself to pull the trigger before eventually ending in a bloody punch-up. The flashback sees her as a rotting, bruised, drug-addict prostitute who's still lamenting the loss of her picture-perfect family.
Help comes in the form of Raza Jaffrey's Keith Proctor, a freelance journalist investigating the plane crash her parents and siblings died in. He reveals it wasn't a mechanical failure, but a terror attack and her family were just collateral damage.
A few scenes later, Proctor is found dead and that's when paranoia sinks in as Stephanie salvages enough to make it to the freezing plains of Scotland to track Proctor's source, B (Iain Boyd played by Jude Law). Known as a former CIA operative, B trains her to the best of his ability before she suits up and switches to mission mode.
There's a dark story to Boyd as well, however, his role comes in as more of a mentor and partner-on-assignment. Lively deserves the credit for playing a rather challenging role. She is a bundle of trauma, anger and hopelessness and yet finds a strength that puts her on the path of a revenge-driven hero.
From a college student to a bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping prostitute, she shines in a role where she constantly struggles to break the surface after sinking to the depths. Over the course of the film, she transitions from a helpless woman to a somewhat shaky agent— flawed and amateur.
Assuming a new identity of a hitwoman, Petra Reuter, Stephanie goes out in search of information and meets with sources. The plot is straightforward and there's enough of breathtaking views, everything that a slick action flick adds as part of its story. The highlight of 'The Rhythm Section' is Lively. And perhaps this treatment was looked at keeping potential sequels in mind and that may see Stephanie as a more evolved version of the novice she is in this movie.
'The Rhythm Section' falls in that space where you could give it a watch and then not have any memories of it later on. It joins a laundry list of flicks that have a conventional theme and is primed for sequels, depending on crowd and critic responses. For now, this doesn't dent Lively's character and her fans can enjoy this one with a tub of popcorn and soda.
