The Rhythm Section (2020)
Directed by Reed Morano
When she discovers the plane crash that claimed the lives of her family was no accident, Stephanie Patrick enters the dark, complex world of international espionage seeking vengeance. With nothing left to lose, Stephanie transforms from victim to assassin and discovers that neither revenge nor the truth are what they appear.
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10 films that influenced The Rhythm Section
What critics say influenced The Rhythm Section
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Sorry, but this type of formula badass-killing-machine thriller inevitably exists in the shadow of the Bourne s and Wick s and, if we want to draw a lady-assassin parallel, add Atomic Blonde and Ava to the list as well.
The film recalls such female-fronted recent efforts as “Atomic Blonde” with Charlize Theron and the best-forgotten “Red Sparrow” with Jennifer Lawrence.
Because the film is produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, the duo behind the James Bond franchise (this is only their third non-Bond production), I was expecting sleek, feline assurance, à la Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde, Angelina Jolie in Salt or Jodie Comer in Killing Eve.
Even excellent entries into the genre like Atomic Blonde struggle to match the success of a Bond or a Bourne film.
Recent movie flops such as “Anna,” “Red Sparrow” and “Atomic Blonde” (with “The Rhythm Section” inevitably joining the list) are an indication that audiences are rejecting this concept that female assassins—no matter how badass they are in their gun-toting, disguise-changing ways—are still reduced to being sexpots who are following orders from men.
She improves markedly, but she will never be Lorraine in Atomic Blonde (sorry for using another Charlize Theron reference).
The film recalls such female-fronted recent efforts as “Atomic Blonde” with Charlize Theron and the best-forgotten “Red Sparrow” with Jennifer Lawrence.
Recent movie flops such as “Anna,” “Red Sparrow” and “Atomic Blonde” (with “The Rhythm Section” inevitably joining the list) are an indication that audiences are rejecting this concept that female assassins—no matter how badass they are in their gun-toting, disguise-changing ways—are still reduced to being sexpots who are following orders from men.
Indeed, even given its globetrotting among various exotic locations and international intrigue, this is perhaps the least glamorous of the subgenre dealing with ordinary women being pressed, or pressing themselves, into service as assassins, which has ranged from the oeuvre of Luc Besson to the Jennifer Lawrence vehicle Red Sparrow .
As opposed to her usual red-carpet glamorous side, Lively receives a full makeunder to great effect: She doesn’t overdo it with the English accent and her character isn’t as hypersexualized as, say, Jennifer Lawrence in “Red Sparrow.”
What's interesting is Morano's almost-clinical approach to sex (even substantial experience with prostitution somehow can't turn Stephanie into a full-on black-widow sex murderer a la Jennifer Lawrence in the less scrappy, larger-scale spy thriller Red Sparrow ).
The Rhythm Section plays as a sort of mix between two very underseen and underrated thrillers of recent memory: Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer and Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow .
It may be damning with faint praise to say that "The Rhythm Section" is better than those high-concept Luc Besson films about female assassins ("La Femme Nikita," "Lucy," "Anna," even "The Professional"), but it is.
In actuality, “The Rhythm Section” (a title that is never fully explained) is a derivation of “La Femme Nikita,” with notes of “Leon: The Professional” and even “V for Vendetta” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (and too many to count if male spies are included; “American Assassin” from 2017 is incredibly similar).
He’s a military professional and she begs him to teach her, like similar team-ups in “La Femme Nikita” and “The Professional.”
A hackneyed mishmash of Léon, Nikita and Jason Bourne fan fiction, it stars Blake Lively as Stephanie Patrick, a grieving student genius who turns to prostitution and heroin addiction when her family is murdered in a terrorist bombing.
Often shot in handheld, they strive for the kinetic energy of Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity, particularly a car chase scene that puts us in the perspective of co-pilot as our hero ricochets around the narrow yet bustling streets of Tangier.
The majority of the film has pacing that lags, then jerks forward, and sequences that seem to be aping The Bourne Identity.
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I would watch Jennifer Garner in any number of Peppermint (2019) sequels before committing to another second of a potential Blake Lively-led Stephanie Patrick series.
So now (like Jennifer Garner in “Peppermint,” among others) follows the ubiquitous training in martial arts and weaponry montage.
Despite its desire to be in the same genre as the Bourne movies or something like The Equalizer, The Rhythm Section has no momentum, and no amount of gritty, shaky handheld camera work is going to change how flat it is.
It may be damning with faint praise to say that "The Rhythm Section" is better than those high-concept Luc Besson films about female assassins ("La Femme Nikita," "Lucy," "Anna," even "The Professional"), but it is.
Plenty of women too, from Anne Parillaud’s La Femme Nikita through Sasha Luss’s Anna and Charlize Theron’s Atomic Blonde .
It may be damning with faint praise to say that "The Rhythm Section" is better than those high-concept Luc Besson films about female assassins ("La Femme Nikita," "Lucy," "Anna," even "The Professional"), but it is.
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Instead, Morano’s direction makes Rhythm feel like the anti- Jason Bourne or 007 film in that the story isn’t interested in making Stephanie be a bad ass or cool, but human.
Or propulsive action thrillers that move from one set piece to the next, never allowing the audience to take a breath, like the “Jason Bourne” series.
As the film careens towards its ending, 1h 49min rolls by pretty quickly (editor Joan Sobel, Nocturnal Animals ).