THE RHYTHM SECTION (2020)

Rated: R

STARS: Blake Lively, Jude Law
DIRECTOR: Reed Morano
GENRE: Action/Adventure 

You go into a revenge/vigilante justice movie with a female lead like this one hoping it might be as engaging as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but The Rhythm Section just seems awkwardly out of tune.

Clearly, we are meant to root for our protagonist. But I didn't find her to be that likable of a character as she goes about her bloody eye-for-an-eye quest to avenge her family, who were killed in a plane that was brought down by a terrorist bomb.

When we meet Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) she's a drug addicted prostitute--apparently brought to this level by the grief she is suffering. She is nervous and fidgety, and she makes you nervous watching her. When asked politely by someone to put out her cigarette, she keeps puffing disdainfully away (I hate that.)

A journalist posing as a client tips her off that the man responsible for making the bomb is right there in London. Geez....what the hell is she gonna do with that? After some soul searching, she seeks out a former MI6 agent (Jude Law) who gives her the standard admonishment that going after this guy isn't going to be worth it. But she's determined, so he puts her through some rigorous paramilitary training (which involves him beating on her a lot until she learns how to fight back), and then she is ready to go kick ass.

While searching for the bomb maker, she learns of other players who were connected to the crime, so she has to go after them too. The stage is set for a lot of hand-to-hand combat, knifings and shootings, and a lot of bouncing off the walls and crap getting smashed up.

The soundtrack is an odd mixture of songs with perhaps unintentional comic undertones. Including: "I'm Waiting for the Man" by the Velvet Underground; "It's Now Or Never" by Elvis; "I'm Sorry" from Brenda Lee; and "Dream A Little Dream of Me" by the lovely Mama Cass. 

The Islamic terrorist types she's going after are strangers to her and to us, known only by name until she encounters them. We are shown no backstory on these guys, so there's no emotional investment for us to say yeah, get this dude because he's pure evil! 

There's a twist at the end which shows you really can't trust anybody or anything (especially the impressions you get from looking at movie trailers!)

About halfway through I was doing a George H.W. Bush and looking at my watch, and that's never a good sign. 

Grade:  D

JILL'S TAKE

What a sorry way to begin reviewing the new batch of 2020 movies! Until Jude Law came on the scene, it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. And who the hell is Blake Lively? Her film credits are remarkably unmemorable and, as far as I can tell, her biggest accomplishment so far has been marrying Ryan Reynolds.

As far as her role in The Rhythm Section goes, I give her high marks for looking realistically prostitutional and for working her ass off in all the (oh god, not another one!) fight scenes. For all you victimized women out there, this movie would probably be cathartic for you. Me? I felt victimized by the movie itself....

So many characters, so little time to get to love or hate them. I recognized some of the actors and found myself pondering where I'd seen them before rather than paying attention to the plot. Aha! Sterling K. Brown (one of the numerous bad guys) is in NBC's popular TV series "This Is Us." And Raza Jeffrey (was he another bad guy or the journalist?) appeared in Showtime's "Homeland." Believe me, this film will definitely not help their careers.

The only positive thing I can say about The Rhythm Section is you get to see a lot of great shots of different cities: Tangiers, London, New York, etc. Hats off to cinematographer Sean Bobbitt. (No relation to Lorena's hubby, hopefully!)

Tim and I are on the same cinematic page with this one.

Grade: D

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SIDE EFFECTS (2013)

Rated:  R

Stars: Rooney Mara,  Jude Law,  Catherine Zeta-Jones,  Channing Tatum
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Genre: Psychological Thriller

Not since we all bought into the idea that Lois Lane couldn't figure out that Clark Kent and Superman were the same dude--just because Clark wore glasses and Superman didn't-- has our willing suspension of disbelief  been stretched to the point of  losing its elasticity like a five year-old pair of  boxer shorts.  But besides the highly implausible and convoluted plot,  it's a pretty  engrossing  yarn of deception and intrigue that's being spun in Side Effects.

Rooney Mara is Emily Taylor, an unstable woman who deliberately crashes her car inside a parking garage and ends up taking anti-depressants under the care of  shrink Jonathan Banks (Jude Law).  One of the side-effects of the drug she is taking is sleepwalking, and in one of those episodes she stabs her husband,(Channing Tatum) to death.  Which was adding insult to injury because he just got out of the pokey after doing a four year stint for insider trading, and now look... he's dead.  (Damn, didn't you read the label on this stuff?  It says quite clearly that it may cause drowsiness, headache, AND A SUDDEN AND  OVERWHELMING DESIRE TO MURDER YOUR SPOUSE!) 

Emily goes on trial, pleads insanity, and is confined to a mental institution. In a sense, this is where Side Effects begins, as the roller coaster plot unfolds from here. And much like The Sixth Sense, nothing is what it appears to be. 

Catherine Zeta-Jones has a very interesting turn as Emily's former therapist, complete with lesbo scenes. She's  one of the last I would expect to go that route, but you know,  DAHLING,  no one can be considered a serious actress TODAY  without it on your resume.

Side Effects will have you shaking your head due to its sheer bravado in asking you  to say, "Uh...it could happen."  And while you can figure out who's the good guy and who's the bad guy in most films,  there is no one here who turns out lily white at the end. 

Grade:  B +