When done right, few subgenres of cinema are quite as entertaining as the spy thriller, which allows a cast of talented stars to exchange jargon-laden exposition in smoky rooms, with the tête-à -têtes punctuated by smash and grab fight sequences and pulse-pounding car chases.
The operative phrase there is ‘when done right’, because when a collection of encouraging pieces fail to come together, the results can be dire. A case in point is The Rhythm Section, which only hit theaters in January of last year but has already been wiped from the collective consciousness.
Not only does it see James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson branching out to tackle a different kind of espionage, but the movie saw Blake Lively totally and utterly commit to her performance as a bereaved widow who becomes a drug-addicted prostitute, before training for months to seek revenge after she discovers her family’s death in a plane crash wasn’t an accident, but a staged act of terrorism.
Throw in Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown in supporting roles, and it sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, the execution was painfully lacking, and The Rhythm Section flopped hard at the box office after earning $6 million on a $50 million budget, ending up with a poor Rotten Tomatoes score of 29%. However, it’s racing up the Netflix most-watched list as per FlixPatrol, having jumped 30 places since yesterday.
