It took me weeks to see this film, as by its second week it was only playing in fifty-odd theaters nationwide (the third-worst theater drop in cinema history). The film was bombing at the box office and I wondered what could be so bad. The problem here is not of poor quality so much as it is lack of imagination. In short, this movie has been made already a thousand times. The comparison to Atomic Blonde is the aptest I could think of out of any other film, as it does everything it does, but worse.
Directed by Reed Morano and produced by the team behind the 007 franchise, The Rhythm Section stars Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Sterling K. Brown on an international tale of revenge. Unfortunately, it fails to capture the magic of its spy thriller brothers and sisters, depriving it of any real interesting elements to distinguish it in the annals of movie history. From Bond to Bourne, the key factor of a thriller’s successes is unsurprisingly its thrills, and this film has a distinct lack of them. Despite strong performances from most of the cast, the movie never feels as if it hits its stride, almost like it was one long first act, building to something just out of reach. What actually is the whole first act is a boring slog through London where we get to see what would happen to Blake Lively if her acting career went horribly wrong. Not only was it boring, but it was also downright depressing to watch, seeing screen time wasted on what I can only describe as Requiem for a Dream lite. Lively certainly sells the depravity of her character, for the most part carrying the film with a compelling performance in an otherwise uninspiring story.
It isn’t until its second act that things start to pick up, and pick up is perhaps too strong a phrase here, with the introduction of Jude Law’s character, ‘B’. This portion of the movie is fun enough, driven by the good performances and cinematography, but limited by the poor screenwriting and inexperienced direction. It is true, there are some truly stunning shots on display here, but they are few and far between and don’t make up for the mediocrity they’re supporting. Right when I thought The Rhythm Section was getting good, a passable B movie up until this point became laughably bad. Something must’ve happened to the writing team because the third act degrades into a really bad episode of network television. Silly lines plague the dialogue while the story backs itself into a corner and resolves in the most obvious and unsatisfying way.
The action is passable, but lacks any enthusiasm and is severely muted by direction. Instead of being quick and punchy, it feels slowed by awkward angles and poor camera placement. This movie’s biggest problem is that it was greenlit, even if based on a novel, that novel was already a derivative of ten other similar stories. This project just did not need to exist and you can feel the lack of passion on screen. Like too many films in today’s crowded market, it brings nothing new to the table and is really only worth watching if it happens to be on and you have nothing else to do.
2/5 STARS