The Rhythm Section

"The movie strains your attention span."

- Chris Stuckmann

The Rhythm Section is a 2020 action drama film directed by Reed Morano and written by Mark Burnell, based on Burnell's novel of the same name. It stars Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Sterling K. Brown, and was released in the United States on January 31, 2020, by Paramount Pictures

Plot
Stephanie Patrick veers down a path of self-destruction after a tragic plane crash kills her family. When Stephanie discovers it wasn't an accident, she turns to a former CIA operative who can help her find the culprits. But her quest to uncover the truth soon turns into a full-blown quest for revenge as Patrick decides to punish those responsible.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) Excessively long and boring story.
 * 2) Too many close up shots, as well as shaky cam in some scenes.
 * 3) Dull characterization. For example, Stephanie isn't given sufficient development. She has a goal that she desperately wants to fulfill but she doesn't change as a result of achieving that goal. She's the same character by the end as she was in the beginning, only she's sober now.
 * 4) **Regarding Stephanie, the film could relied on the leading lady to convey the loss she feels rather than reusing the same flashback scene over and over
 * 5) *Also, Marc Serra exists just to further the plot, only serving to give information and to wear glasses.
 * 6) The soundtrack falls flat on some scenes. For example, thirty seconds of a Velvet Underground song followed by a Brenda Lee song for fifteen seconds were played, as if one were to hit shuffle on a varied playlist at random times.
 * 7) The script lacks emotional depth and consists mostly of exposition being traded between characters.
 * 8) Speaking of the ending, it was spoiled by the trailers.
 * 9) Bland directing, causing the film to feel like an origin story with Stephanie being introduced to assassinating.
 * 10) This film has killed any hopes of recovery for Global Road Studios (then known as Open Road Studios), who was just recovering from bankruptcy after a chain of low quality films like A.X.L. and Show Dogs.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Unlike most female heroes nowadays, Stephanie Patrick isn't a Mary Sue and is a flawed character that gets actual training.
 * 2) *Unlike most assassins, Stephanie is slow to killing. After she completes her training and heads into the world to seek vengeance she proves to be rather ineffective, she would had immediately turned into a ruthless expert killer, but she proves to not be cut out for it. She lacks the moral numbness and skill to pull it off, which makes her more relatable.
 * 3) The performances from the cast are good.
 * 4) The soundtrack is decent.
 * 5) The cinematography reflects on the bleak tone of the protagonist, who is an inept assassin.
 * 6) The first act is very good.
 * 7) The concept of an assassin who has the reluctance to kill or murder anyone is handled decently.

Reception
The Rhythm Section received negative reviews from critics and audiences. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 28% based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 4.74/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Blake Lively delivers an impressive lead performance, but The Rhythm Section plods predictably through a story that could have used some flashier riffs.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews.". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported it received 2.5 out of 5 stars in their polling, with 35% of people saying they would definitely recommend it.

It was a box-office bomb, having the worst wide-opening weekend of all time for a film playing in over 3,000 theaters and the biggest drop in theaters, with Paramount projected to lose $30–40 million.