THE RHYTHM SECTION: Not Quite Right

James Bond franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have heard you mulling over the possibility of a woman playing James Bond. They wanted to deliver in the form of a spinoff film focused on Halle Berry’s Die Another Day character, Jinx, but MGM reportedly wouldn’t shell out for the $80 million budget. Now they’re trying again, this time with an adaptation of the first novel in Mark Burnell’s series of thrillers centered on international spy Stephanie Patrick, The Rhythm Section.

Her name might not be Bond (James Bond), but Stephanie’s action-packed story resembles the adventures of that famous secret agent in enough ways that one can definitely see the appeal for Broccoli and Wilson. Unfortunately, The Rhythm Section is lacking the spark necessary to set a whole new franchise alight.

International Woman of Mystery

Stephanie (Blake Lively, with a brash British accent) went into deep mourning after her entire family – mother, father, sister, and brother – perished in a tragic plane crash. Three years later, she’s living a dead-end life as a drug-addled prostitute in an unsavory brothel when she is tracked down by investigative journalist Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey), who tells Stephanie that the crash wasn’t an accident, but a terrorist attack covered up by the government. Not only that, but the man who built the bomb, Reza (Tawfeek Barhom), is currently walking the streets of London.

A misguided attempt to avenge her family results in Stephanie fleeing to Scotland in search of Proctor’s secret source, an ex-MI6 agent named Boyd (Jude Law). Determined to take down Reza and anyone else who may be responsible for her family’s death, and with absolutely nothing to lose, Stephanie enlists Boyd’s reluctant help to train in the art of being an assassin. Once she is deemed ready, Stephanie begins a globe-hopping journey in pursuit of the mysterious terrorist known as U-17, who hired Reza to build the bomb that killed her family. Along the way, she encounters an ex-CIA agent named Marc Serra (Sterling K. Brown), whose ability to track down anyone and everyone may hold the key to Stephanie finally finding closure.

Not Your Average Male Gaze

The Rhythm Section has all of the usual attributes of an action thriller: a hero with a tragic backstory, a troubled mentor to teach our hero the ropes, a series of set pieces in exotic locales like Tangier and Madrid. What’s new? Stephanie is a refreshingly unsexualized female lead, though she does have one brief scene in which she must don sexy lingerie to seduce a financier of terrorism (because of course). However, for most of the rest of the film, she dons a series of oversized shirts buttoned right up to the chin, with short spiky hair that looks as though it has never been combed, albeit artfully so (because of course).

Stephanie’s no-nonsense wardrobe for traveling the world in pursuit of bad guys – and fighting them, and killing them – was incredibly refreshing to me, and not just because it bore a remarkable resemblance to my own style. It might seem like a small thing, but for me, Stephanie’s clothes were a constant reminder that The Rhythm Section, unlike nearly every other spy thriller in existence, was not shot through a leering male gaze.

Even though she’s played by the undeniably beautiful Blake Lively, Stephanie is not presented as a sex object; if anything, she’s a form of weaponized grief. This characterization and costuming might be disappointing news for many audience members who were hoping to see Lively kick butt in, say, thigh-high boots, but for me, it was a highlight.

Assassinations for Dummies

Another aspect of Stephanie’s character that I enjoyed was the fact that while she does acquire competent ass-kicking abilities thanks to Boyd’s training, she is by no means a natural assassin. She makes mistakes along the way that any of us probably would if we went out in search of vengeance with little more than a few target shooting lessons and a lot of bottled-up anger.

One of my favorite scenes in The Rhythm Section is a car chase in Tangier that bears little resemblance to the epic chase scenes in your typical spy film. Whereas James Bond will seamlessly and hilariously transition from driving a sports car to flying a helicopter to running on top of a train in the span of ten minutes, Stephanie’s anxiety-inducing escape from a gang of thugs protecting one of her targets involves a lot of swerving and screaming.

I don’t say that to demean the character or the treatment of her in this film, as I found it realistic and more than a bit relatable – which honestly made it a lot more stressful. The intensity of the scene is aided by the wild, whipping movements of the camera, which follows the entire scene from inside the car with Stephanie and without a cut; you feel like you’re right there in the passenger seat with Stephanie, which needless to say is a scary prospect.

Unfortunately, The Rhythm Section’s ability to stand out in the sea of similar movies essentially ends there. While I appreciated the character of Stephanie and Lively’s blunt, bitter portrayal of her, the film itself doesn’t do her justice. The plot is paint-by-numbers, the supporting characters are little more than archetypes, and the musical choices are exceedingly on the nose. Acclaimed cinematographer-turned-director Reed Morano (I Think We’re Alone Now) is at the helm of The Rhythm Section, and while she doesn’t shoot this one herself (that would be Sean Bobbitt, best known for 12 Years a Slave and other collaborations with director Steve McQueen), I was still surprised at the lack of visual invention on screen.

With the exception of the aforementioned Tangier car chase, which is a standout, the film is rather uninteresting to look at, and not just because it begins and ends under London’s perpetually grey skies. One often expects action movies to have little in the way of, say, intellectual dialogue or complex story structure, but with these elements in absentia, they should at least be fun to look at. Fortunately, the film clocks in at under two hours, leaving one little time to become truly bored with it.

The Rhythm Section: Conclusion

The Rhythm Section has some enjoyable elements, but in the end, this mostly formulaic flick isn’t the female-driven spy thriller we’ve been looking for. Still, one hopes that its failure at the box office – it only grossed $2.8 million opening weekend – doesn’t scare Broccoli and Wilson away from further attempts at delivering one.

The Rhythm Section was released in the U.S. and the UK on January 31, 2020. You can find more international release dates here.