Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Blake Lively, Jude Law, Raza Jaffrey, Tawfeek Barhom, Sterling K. Brown, Richard Brake, Matilda Ziegler, Elly Curtis, David Duggan, Bill O’Connell, Ivana Basic, Irma Mali, Geoff Bell, Tawfeek Barhom, Jack McEvoy, Nasser Memarzia, Amira Ghazalla.

Cinema loves a good tale of revenge, a lost soul with a cause that is just, who has lost all they had, but who came back fighting with a purpose to right the wrongs bestowed upon them by thieves, murderers and even governments; cinema loves a good tale of vengeance, also it has a lot to say about those films that want to live in that world but barely live up to the highs that the medium has offered audiences throughout the last hundred years.

For an audience to believe that someone is capable of seeking reprisal against person or persons unknown, there has to be trust in the showing of the character before and after the ordeal they have been subjected to, the reason for the sense of honour they wish to restore, and whilst the viewer understands that prevailing of justice sought can come from any person capable of feeling anger, there are some to whom such a response is not only unlikely, but positively dubious.

This is where The Rhythm Section fails to land a sustainable impact, a story, albeit with a couple of well-prepared scenes that tip the balance, that feels unfortunately that it was created for the sake of creation’s sake, where the protagonist, Blake Lively’s Stephanie Patrick, is the epitome of the fallen woman who finds a purpose after her family and others like them are murdered by a terrorist who plans to strike again.

The issue is not that such a thing could happen, a former university student who is popular, hard-working, who loves her family, is suddenly found to have dropped off the radar, become a drug addict and a prostitute, can be redeemed, rescued, in such a short time and found to have the necessary skills in which to exact vengeance as an assassin, to whom a former British intelligence officer, played by Jude Law, is willing to train, and bond with, all in the name of revenge.

Unlike for example the excellent Kill Bill, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and even the heavyweights of the genre such as Death Wish and I Spit On Your Grave, The Rhythm Section is for the vast majority of its running time, unbelievable, it is out of synch with its premise, the rhythm section in this case is not in tune with the orchestration, the measure of the character’s desire not in keeping with the motion of the lead voice to which everything is hanging.

There is also the departure of exploration in the way the family that Stephanie has lost is given scant regard, that the idea of revenge only comes from what be described as the long lens of sepia memory, the odd flashes of memory that Stephanie has, and not enough focus on those characters themselves, and it is a huge shame, especially when the watcher is given the excellent Matilda Ziegler as Stephanie’s mother for such a small time; an actor who certainly deserves more air time that she received in the film.

If revenge is best served cold, and perhaps emotionally distant, then The Rhythm Section exceeds its worth, however the fact that it has all the hall marks of soup that has allowed to form a congealed skin on its surface and in which the ingredients have not been blended together properly, and for such a offering in which to wet the palate, leaves you hoping there is not a main course to follow.

Unappealing, unbelievable, unthinkable, The Rhythm Section is out of tune.

Ian D. Hall