Read the novel instead
- The Rhythm Section review by JJ
There's far too much wrong with this film to go into here. Let's just say it was a surprise to see the man who wrote the entertaining series of Stephanie Patrick novels also wrote the hopeless screenplay for this.
Not only did they gut the novel of most of its content, they omitted a voiceover which would at least have given Stephanie some of the contrast that makes her interesting: the ex-student who is forced into a depraved series of lives yet who retains a sardonic humour and some humanity throughout. All that is missing here. Avoid.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Falls Flat
- The Rhythm Section review by KT
Not good news, another movie where the the trailer oversells the film. I'll cut to the chase, if you're looking for the likes American Assassin, Anna, Nikita, Atomic Blonde or Red Sparrow look elsewhere because this is not it. Not a bad film by any means but just very unsatisfying, as one reviewer pointed out based on a novel, I've not idea if the novels are good or not but perhaps sometimes novels don't translate well to film. Look at the heap of Stephen King stuff, nearly everyone says the books are brilliant, movies? Kinda leaves people saying what the hell?
The film basically follows the emotions of the protagonist where as I would the say the trailer made it out to look more like a revenge action movie. Maybe one for fans of the novels instead. Falls flat in pretty much everyway.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Missed opportunity
- The Rhythm Section review by PC
It is quite nice that the makers of the film have taken a more gritty approach to the female assassin genre, an ever growing genre all by itself. Unfortunately, they still adhere to the usual stereotypes, she must carry out a kill whilst in sexy underwear! The script is not the best but Blake Lively is good and carries off a decent English accent.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
It was painful to watch
- The Rhythm Section review by PD
Poor cinematograhy, poor script, attempt at creating a taut thriller failed miserably. Direction of the movie is beyond poor. Do not waste your time, learn from my mistake.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Interminably dull would-be thriller
- The Rhythm Section review by Alphaville
It makes its first mistake right at the beginning, with a spoiler scene from the end followed by the dreaded title ‘8 months earlier’. Mind you, if they didn’t show our heroine holding a gun in an end-scene you wouldn’t stick with this bore of a film. You probably won’t stay the distance anyway. Staid direction, hand-held camera, a focus on close-ups of talking heads, one-note acting, protracted plot, no pace, an almost total lack of action… it would take too long to list everything that’s wrong with this.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Whatever
- The Rhythm Section review by CP Customer
I wrote this once but you logged me out without saving it. I'm not typing it all in again.
I wrote this once but you logged me out without saving it. I'm not typing it all in again.
I wrote this once but you logged me out without saving it. I'm not typing it all in again.
I wrote this once but you logged me out without saving it. I'm not typing it all in again.
This should be 100 now!
0 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Average & messy Thriller
- The Rhythm Section review by GI
This revenge thriller is perfectly watchable although it's mostly incoherent when it's not being implausible to the extreme. Blake Lively is Stephanie, a woman grieving for her family after they are killed in a plane crash. She's turned to heroin and prostitution but a freelance journalist tells her the plane was downed by a terrorist bomb which sets her off on a trail of revenge aided by a rogue MI6 agent (Jude Law). Her heroin addiction miraculously disappears as she tracks down the bad guys and clumsily bumps them off. Some of the action set pieces are well managed including a car chase but overall this feels a bit messy and it's structure has some pointless chops and changes to try and make it look cleverer than it is, the opening for example does nothing for the narrative because it quickly jumps back to the start of her story and then we have a straight forward linear storyline. It's not a dead loss but leaves you feeling a little disappointed by the end.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.