Slave To The Rhythm.
109 Mins. Starring: Blake Lively, Jude Law & Raza Jaffrey & Sterling K. Brown. Director: Reed Morano.
This is the rhythm of the night. Don't panic. Be calm. Be still. You've got to get your 'Rhythm Section' under control like Law says, soothing our shooter and getting her thoughts in order. Hey Jude. Think of your heart as the drums. Your breathing is the bass. BANG! You awake? In this couch quarantined time of self confinement, no one goes it quite as alone on screen for your movie night in than Blake Lively. 'The Shallows' of this 'Gossip Girl', deep actor once went against Jaws all on her own (aside from some Steven Segull company on the rocks) tooth and nail (or more like a flare gun) like her husband Ryan Reynolds 'Buried' alive in a coffin with sand as the only solidarity for an hour and a half. Signs of more than a power couple...but great, individual actors from the meta 'Deadpool' to the subtle storytelling whodunit 'Knives Out' like vintage of Paul Feig's 'A Simple Favor', cocking a service weapon under the table of a roadside diner with 'Crazy, Rich Asians' Bond auditioned Henry Golding like today's special was really going to hit. Now 'Bomshell' beware you don't have to go all 'Atomic Blonde' like Charlize Theron, or the Harley Quinn of 'Birds Of Prey' anti-hero Margot Robbie to be a vigilante going for her revenge against the real villains. Especially with this actress accented in more ways than one. Any red head dead, femme fatale wig fits this blonde to black bob serving iconic looks in a thriller from the producers of Bond that spies hard with a license like 007. Lively alive-like we hope movies soon will be back on the big screen in this shaken and stirred time with 'No Time To Die' the first to be pushed back-is killing it in this Fleming like novel adaptation of Mark Burnell's brilliant bestselling book...literally. All in synch with perfect rhythm like dun, dun, done.
Orchestrating a hit against those who took out her family, Blake makes sure this revenge of violence is not an unfinished symphony as she goes on the massive attack like mezzanine. Think of your heart as the drums. Your breathing is the bass. BOOM! 'The Rhythm Section' may have been one of the biggest box office bombs ever, but that doesn't matter. You can still feel the beat. Besides you may have heard of something called corona that's been keeping people away from the seat tilting cinemas even more lately than digital downloads which now make your home the on demand place to movie be. But from epic explosions to gritty gravitas, this movie depressed in a dank January is noir mesmerizing and personally compelling thanks to Lively's human touch, as she continues to go from a Hollywood household name to the upper echelon of actors. This is real. You can literally see the blood form on her face as she walks away from all the destruction she's given her sweat and tears to in an utterly physical role were she gives her all. And how about that street to car chase outstanding one shot, that even rivals Charlize Theron's 'Atomic Blonde' as Blake's 'Rhythm Section' shows this more realistic revenge assassin can turn an overused technique today into what it really is below the surface stunts...a directing art form? Like this movie that is much more than the picture perfect postcard retreats, that backdrop almost make you forget this movie jumps from London, to Scotland, New York, Madrid, Tangier and a magnifique Marseilles like the real killer we want to get rid of right now. Distributor Paramount pictures say despite the receipts they're proud of their picture...and they should be. In a day and night in time right now we're movies to some living alone could serve as their only company, we need to move away from a time were we just hate on everything and anything we haven't seen because of a bad weekend at the box office or a couple of critics who have their noses too high up to actually see this thing. This is meant to be entertainment and most movies do that, despite people's pretention or looking through the lens of the even bigger form of that in dollars and not much sense. And unlike other good movies this one actually has some creation and auteur direction to its cinematic touch. No need for it to be sectioned.
Zimmer scores shimmer across the soundstage as Hans lends his hand to this screenplays soundtrack, learning the time ticking trademarks of his 'Interstellar' and 'Dunkirk' trade, all whilst bringing the legacy making 'Dark Knight' strings of this legends work that frames this picture with a perfect sensory portrait across the five. The revenge in this movie is so palpably raw you can almost taste and smell the gun metal and powder in this keg of fuse explosive nerve and anger. But get it under control like Blake remember. Her heart is the drums. Her breathing the bass. Lively starts this movie raw and ravaged in the Big Smoke like her compelling character in Ben Affleck's 'The Town' that she brought more physical lines to than there were on the screenplay. But then when she takes it to the Scottish Highlands she really climbs a mountain of physical and performance endurance. Becoming a sheer savage with the taught training of a 'Black Sea' deep Jude Law who has hints of maddening menace behind his mentor character like his one for Brie Larson's 'Captain Marvel'. The 'Road To Perdition' and 'Cold Mountain' icon of 'The Young' and 'New', two 'Pope's' series giving the heart drums, breathing bass, 'Rhythm Section' conducting speech is at his best, as brutal and unforgiving as the chilling wind and cold meals up in these moors as he gives Blake an ultimatium of a challenge, swim home or die. Literally making her fight over the dinner table for her chance to exact revenge, let alone sing for her supper. All until she rips the cotton out of his kevlar at range with a hollow point from distance. Imagine if Rocky had this raging bull in his corner. The CIA as they always do come into play here too. And it's 'This Is Us' in the bespectacled beautiful form of Sterling K. Brown. The 'Waves' actor scene steals like he did in the opening of his character catalyst to the 'Black Panther' revolution or making his breakthrough case in the 'American Crime Story' of 'The People vs O.J. Simpson'. But it's 'Code Black' and 'Eastern Promises' actor Raza Jaffrey's investigational journalist that really gets the scoop with heart and humanity in his opening page appearance. As calculated as Ben Affleck's 'Accountant'. As slow burning compelling as the gun oil of George Clooney's 'The American' in the scope of retirement, assembling a rifle for one last job in the Italian countryside, this ultraviolence of the mind and the hand to hand matters evoke more than lights, camera and action, but the bruised soul of our agony perplexed protagonist here. Beat to beat like a Jezabel, Blake Lively is "your girl" here like the epic, 'When Did You Sleep Last Night' trailer theme lead by the Sleigh Bells like guiding at night. 'The Handmaid's Tale' and 'Kill Your Darlings' director Reed Morano with signature style gives us a real revenge movie that's brutally worth more than the 'Salt' of an Angelina Jolie one in this 'Anna' age for 'Adaline' and chapter and verse of this 'John Wick' time for this woman on fire. Like an underrated 'Colombiana' with Zoe Saldana putting the payphone down to Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' years before the 'Logan' run of another neo Western. Instead it lies next to sleeper hits in the genre like Jodie Foster's 'The Brave One' (with a scene stealing Terence Howard playing the Jude Law part), Vin Diesel's best yet 'A Man Apart' (whose influence could be credited to the 'New Model, Original Parts' fourth part comeback of the previously pit stopped 'Fast and Furious' franchise) and a South Korean 'Villainess', catching a bus in the line of fire at the end of this fuse too (who could one shot kick in first person camera both John Wick and the 'Atomic Blonde' movies asses). This belongs in the section of the best revenge thrillers served despite the cold. Let the rhythm hit 'em. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'The Shallows', 'The Brave One', 'Atomic Blonde'.
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