The Rhythm Section; Grade: C-
The Rhythm Section tells a story about a woman named Stephanie (Blake Lively) whom becomes a drug addict/prostitute after her family dies in a horrific plane crash. Stephanie is then acquainted by a man, whom claims he knows the man whom planted the bomb in the plane. So Stephanie snaps out of a lifestyle she doesn't approve as he tries to kill the bomber. Stephanie had the chance to kill him, but blew it due to fear as it lead to the killing of the man whom helped Stephanie find new purpose. Now Stephanie travels to Iain's (Jude Law) house, as he helps train Stephanie to become a stronger woman, so she can defeat all those involved in the bombing.
The Cinematography was nothing special, honestly can't acknowledge one redeemable shot worth praising throughout this entire film. The Score in the beginning was over powering, but then it cleaned itself up later on as it became a little more enjoyable. The cast all in all were fine. Blake Lively playing Stephanie had a fine performance, it kind of reminds me of Nicole Kiddman's performance in Destroyer... Both looked and acted the exact same. Stephanie as a character was fine on paper, but I felt she was under developed and sadly rushed. Jude Law playing Iain had a good performance, reminds me of his performance in Captain Marvel. Sterling K Brown's performance was honestly very weak, I felt he didn't want to be there to be honest, lacking in enthusiasm.
Honestly I had no desire watching The Rhythm Section, I was actually going to skip it entirely. But I caved in because... Well I'm a nice guy. I can understand the hate behind The Rhythm Section, however I didn't feel this wasn't as bad as everyone says it is. The plot of the film is kept very simple and does what it's asked to do: A Revenge Story. You hope Stephanie defeats these group of bad men because they did a truly horrific act. I found the car chase scene to be actually exciting, it was a cool scene. For all the criticism this film had on the lack of interest... I found it to be at least watchable. So let's go over the problems of The Rhythm Section. I found the flashback sequences to be horrendous, very wonky as it just made me sick to look at. I do believe this film glossed over Stephanie's training, to become this fearless bad ass this film wanted her to be. I felt more needed to be done in her training, to where I can at least believe she can take down all these men, felt very rushed. I also felt most of the training sequences to be very uninspiring, no where near the quality of films like Rocky and Batman Begins. The film has a tone problem, it does want to become quite a few things. Sometimes it wants to a serious dramatic thriller, sometimes it wants to be an action thriller, and oddly at times it wants to be a playful comedy?! There is a couple moments of comedy, where I was like... Why? This film is about a tragedy in ones life, wanting to seek revenge, why the hell is there these odd comedic moments?! Tone wise it's not as bad as The Night Clerk, but I felt this film needed to be consistent on one tone. Other than the car chase scene, found all the action scenes in this film to be flat. Somehow felt the ending was just alright, as they really wanted to make a knock out, yet it felt like whatever. At least I enjoyed shouting U-17 like an idiot randomly. I'm just happy this film wasn't a waste of time and did better than my original expectations, but in the end this film will be forgotten... Oh wait it's been forgotten for some time now and we're still in 2020.
Overall, The Rhythm Section is a very mediocre film. If this film is streaming for free then you can watch it, otherwise a better recommendation would be Batman Begins. -Mitch Smietana