Staring : Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown
Written by Mark Burnell, Directed by Reed Morano
Whenever something bad is done or happens to you, after you get past the first stages of shock sometimes the feeling of wanting to get back at whoever caused your pain rises up. Some Klingons will say that ‘revenge is a dish best serve cold’, but it is served best in my eyes when it’s done cinematically, because a good revenge flick is hard to top. Revenge though isn’t always enough to keep my interest, instead I like to see movies that break from traditional formulas. Often though a lot of story tellers don’t possess the particular set of skills to make that happen, but it never dashes my hope it will happen.
If you couldn’t tell yet by my opening you are about to enter a world bent on revenge. Stephane (Blake Lively) used to have a pretty perfect life, but that all changed when her family dies in plane crash. Stephanie’s life changed after that as she sunk to some deep lows after she blamed herself for their deaths. While at the bottom a reporter comes to see her and claims to have information about the truth behind the plane crash. It seems it was not an accident and the reporter starts to fill in some details and who was behind the act. Armed with that info, Stephanie decides she is going to take things into her own hands and seeks bloody vengeance, but while the desire is there she can’t follow through, but the simple act of trying sets other things into motion. After the fallout, she seeks the reporters contact, a man named B (Jude Law), who used to be work for MI6, and he agrees to help train Stephanie to do what she couldn’t do before. After a few months of that, skills are sharpened, but as she follows the path to the revenge, is it truly what she wants?
As far as a revenge flick, The Rhythm Section keeps its head above water most of the time. While I am not a fan of the title, because it makes me think I am about to see a movie about Glenn Miller’s orchestra, it makes a little more sense after about the midpoint of the film. Written by Mark Burnell from his novel, the story takes the fish out of water path in the sense that Stephanie wants to be someone she can’t seem to become. While the story is adequate, where the movie shines is in its direction from Reed Morano. The choices made with the camera feel right all the time and peaks in a car chase scene that is a joy to watch. When you add in the great music by Steve Mazzaro and the performance by Lively, you end up with an easily recommended revenge movie, if not served entirely cold.
