Almost Bourne's Tempo: "Rhythm Section" a watchable revenge thriller with a persuasive, down-and-dirty turn from Blake Lively


The Rhythm Section (2020)
109 min.
Screened on January 28, 2020 at Landmark Ritz East
Release Date: January 31, 2020 (Wide)

Her name is Patrick, Stephanie Patrick, and she is an unlikely successor to James Bond and Jason Bourne. Based on the first of four books by Mark Burnell and adapted with a screenplay by Burnell himself, “The Rhythm Section” adds a grungier, more grounded flavor to globe-trotting espionage pulp. It luckily has more in common with 2017’s riveting, achingly human Diane Kruger-starrer “In the Fade” than it does with Jennifer Garner’s inane 2018 action vehicle “Peppermint.” With a persuasive turn by Blake Lively and potent direction by Reed Morano (2018’s “I Think We’re Alone Now”), “The Rhythm Section” is a bit more complex than most familiar revenge-thrillers through its handling of grief, how a person can lose him or herself after the devastation of trauma and be driven to a place of motivated vigilantism without having honed a particular set of skills.

Three years after her parents and siblings boarded a flight she was supposed to be on and were killed as collateral damage in a plane crash over the Atlantic, once-promising Oxford grad Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) is living in a London flophouse, strung out on drugs and working as a prostitute. A freelance journalist, Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey), comes to her with a source who is certain that a terrorist bomb caused the crash. Following GPS coordinates on foot to an isolated cottage in Scotland, Stephanie eventually tracks down Procter’s source known as “B” (Jude Law), a former MI6 agent. After “B” has her endure a drug detox, he ends up training and toughening her up for her ultimate mission, where Stephanie assumes the identity of a late assassin named Petra Reuter whose body was never recovered. Along the way as Stephanie hops on over to Madrid, she soon meets ex-CIA agent/philanthropist/information broker Marc Serra (Sterling K. Brown), who might be able to lead her to the one centrally behind the bombing. “I don’t want to get healed,” Stephanie claims, but she needs closure and has nothing more to lose.

Not to be confused with a dull wallow, “The Rhythm Section” has a somber tone and slower tempo than the average action-thriller, as well as offbeat, incongruous musical choices (Sleigh Bells’ breathy cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” comes off as the most effective right before the end credits roll). Besides being based on a book of the same name, the title is an unconventional choice, too, referring to Stephanie’s reluctance to actually follow through on each hit and pull the trigger; as “B” counsels her, Stephanie must coordinate her heart rate (the drums) and her breathing (the bass) to shoot a gun. Mark Burnell’s screenplay introduces the moral question of revenge being worth it, even if it isn’t cleanly answered, and by making Stephanie a revenge-fueled killer, what the film ultimately tries to say is somewhat garbled. On the side of what really works, though, director Reed Morano delivers bursts of intensity in single takes and artful editing flourishes where a present scene is intercut with the outcome. A four-minute hand-to-hand brawl between Stephanie and “B” in his kitchen is tense and brutal, and there’s an extended doozy of a chaotic car chase through the streets of Tangier that impresses in its propulsive pace and kinetic hand-held staging. Following a bus explosion, Stephanie emerges from behind a car as the sound goes out and a ringing, waterlogged sound takes over. Also, the stunts are believably competent, meaning Stephanie only has her limited training and nothing-to-lose guts to go on without being as slick as a highly trained operative coming back into the fold after an amnesiac stint.

Blake Lively (2018’s “A Simple Favor”), speaking in a passable British accent, goes all in without a trace of glamour in a tough, down-and-dirty performance that demands a lot from her emotionally and physically. Given the rare chance to shed so much vulnerability onscreen as Stephanie Patrick, Lively is playing a shell of a human being. She is at her lowest point, looking bruised and exhausted with her hair shorn. Then, as the character picks herself up to pursue her hits, Lively must play different versions of Stephanie’s “self,” or alias Petra Reuters. Not that she is a stone-cold cipher, but who was Stephanie Patrick before the terrorist attack? As shown in a shorthand of unvarying, dialogue-free flashbacks between her and her family smiling together and clearly loving one another, while playing cards and drinking wine, Stephanie was happy and full of promise, and now, she is damaged goods seeking vengeance. While the script could have colored in the limited background of Stephanie or more varying coverage could have been shot to convey the happier times, Lively holds the proceedings together to make Stephanie a relatable entry point with just enough shadings. Where it matters less, but still frustratingly feels like a waste of Jude Law (2019's "Captain Marvel") and Sterling K. Brown (2019's "Waves"), is the use of the supporting characters who help Stephanie get her to where she needs to be. “B” and Serra are pretty underwritten, and their motivations not quite clear, but the actors prop up these plot-guiding parts with their talent alone.

“The Rhythm Section” is compelling and immensely watchable, but it isn’t without its faults. An in medias res opening, where Stephanie is already eight months into her mission in Tangier and has a gun pointed at a target (sadly underused character actor Richard Brake) but can’t bring herself to pull the trigger, is unnecessary and adds nothing to what we eventually learn. There’s also a briefly sexual relationship between Stephanie and Serra that comes out of nowhere and, hence, doesn’t make any sense. Still, there is a clear-eyed vision to how director Morano handles a woman getting what she wants by using her body without the viewer feeling like he or she is supposed to be titillated. For instance, when Stephanie must prove herself and give her body a shock to the system, Morano holds on Lively, only dressed in her underwear and holding onto her clothes in a blanket behind her, slowly wading into a freezing loch before swimming across to the other side. It might sound like a minor note, but the cold is palpable and Lively’s shivering feels authentic. By the end of her cathartic if not morally clean journey, one wishes Stephanie will be able to start anew, but what she has learned exactly will have to wait for the follow-up if audiences even fall in step with this first film’s rhythm.

Grade: B -

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