Quick Take: The Rhythm Section (2020)

Director: Reed Morano. Starring: Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown. Release: VOD.

Coming across like Nikita by way of Jason Bourne, this franchise-killing revenge spy movie, has neither the ferocity, the narrative clarity, or the emotional impact of either of these movies or any of the countless other movies it so desperately wants to imitate.

Blake Lively stars as a woman destroyed by the loss of her family, who suddenly gets a chance for revenge when she receives information that the fatal plane crash that caused her loss was a deliberate act of terror. Unfortunately the character's trajectory from broken woman, to inexperience killer, to hardcore assassin will be painfully predictable to anyone with even a passing knowledge of the genre.

The central revenge plot never really works, and it doesn't take long before the film starts to overcomplicate its simple premise with an international spy story that somehow manages to be less thrilling than Red Sparrow and less believable than Johnny English. The kind of spy story where every twist or revelation comes with a shrug and an "okay then" from the viewer, because you have nothing invested in the lead character or her journey.

Still, a movie can get away with a lot as long as it's got moxie or star power. Unfortunately, despite her obvious talents the likeable Blake Lively just can't seem to breathe any life into the moody and unlikable character. "I've got nothing to lose," the would-be assassin says at one point. After watching this film, you'll know exactly how true that is.