Mr. Movie: ‘The Rhythm Section’ never hits a rhythm

By itself the title “The Rhythm Section” makes no sense. You’re never told but in novelist Mark Burnell’s book, rhythm section is how the heart and the lungs work together.

Burnell also wrote the screenplay and has adapted his 1999 book into this movie. I read the synopsis and it appears he’s made all kinds of changes to the plot. While it’s like his book, it’s also not. Since it’s Burnell’s own work I guess that’s forgivable but in this book — and his other books featuring this heroine — Stephanie Patrick is much more interesting than she appears in this movie.

Barbara Broccoli and some of the James Bond series producers are involved in the project and produce. That could explain some of why Burnell made plot changes from the book to the movie.

Maybe.

Whatever happened, “The Rhythm Section” is a thriller about a woman whose family is killed when a terrorist blows up a plane killing them and over 120 others. Patrick was supposed to be on that plane.

A guilt ridden Patrick sinks into drugs and prostitution. A reporter who has been investigating the incident finds her. He tells her terrorists did the deed and that the British government and the U.S. government are hiding that fact.

Politics apparently trump justice.

Eventually Stephanie takes his clues and starts tracking the killers. It takes her to Scotland where she encounters a man who is ex-MI-6. He’s the guy who put the reporter on a track to find the terrorists responsible for the bombing. She’s desperate to find those that killed her family so the man reluctantly trains her to become an agent and a killer. Then he sends her out to get the justice she seeks.

It turns out that Stephanie isn’t all that good at vengeance.

Blake Lively (TV’s “Gossip Girl”) stars along with Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown and a bunch of bit players you’ve never heard of and won’t likely see again. Wearing a shag cut reminiscent of Bridget Fonda in 1993’s “Point of No Return,” and donning that character’s persona, Lively’s Stephanie steps clumsily into a totally foreign world.

The key word is clumsily. She’s so terrible at the game of spying that in real life she’d have been dead in a heartbeat. Since it’s a movie, and she’s the heroine and main character, Lively’s Stephanie lives.

Somehow.

In spite of the action sequences where she overdoes the whining and gasping, Lively is a very talented actress and is pretty good in the part. I have never seen “Gossip Girl” but did love her in the Hitchcock-like flick “A Simple Favor” from 2018.

She’s mastered the art of giving a character multiple dimensions without saying much. That’s an important talent to have considering Patrick doesn’t have much to do except look tortured, confused or dangerous.

Outside of her performance there is a lot to like about “The Rhythm Section” and a lot not to like. Director Reed Morano — who won a Prime Time Emmy for “The Handmaiden’s Tale” — puts some action sequences in her film that will have you gripping the arm rest of your theater seat and holding your breath.

They’re very, very good.

These and other things you like about “The Rhythm Section” are neutralized by what you won’t. The movie borrows heavily from the 1990 thriller, “La Femme Nikita” and the aforementioned sanitized American version of the film, “Point of No Return.” Burnell and Morano and the producers also take from flicks like 2018’s “Red Sparrow” and a few others.

Outside of some great action sequences, Morano’s film crawls so slowly that it makes her 109 minute movie seem way longer. That may be part of the reason the movie sat on the shelf and is being released almost a year after first planned.

From what I read in the synopsis, Burnell’s book is a lot more original. Nothing is in this movie. Since the Broccoli family is involved — and if this film hits a rhythm of its own and does well at the box office — you will likely see sequels.

A lot of them.

The climax gives the producers that option. Maybe they’ll steal a little less from other films and do Burnell’s books like they were written. Though the books seem like they’re a spy thriller soap opera, his ideas for this character and her life are a lot better than this movie.

So as it stands let’s just say “The Rhythm Section” has very little rhythm.

▪ Rated R for mature themes, language and violence. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Southgate 10 and the Pasco and Queensgate 12s, at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.

▪ Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5

This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘The Rhythm Section’ never hits a rhythm."