THE RHYTHM SECTION adds brooding ‘Stephanie’ to a lineup of lethal lady avengers that show the boys club just how rough girls can play. Training and attitude unleashed La Femme Nikita, Colombiana, Peppermint, Hanna, Red Sparrow, Salt, Lucy, Ava, Haywire, Point Of No Return,  Sentinelle and Atomic Blonde. So much for Sabrina, Tammy and Gidget…

Three years after her family was killed in an air crash, ‘Stephanie Patrick’ (Blake Lively) has descended into drug addiction and prostitution. When a reporter clues her in that the crash wasn’t an accident but an act of terrorism, and the perps are walking free due to a  government cover-up, her despair transmutes into revenge. Given a do-or-die crash course in basic kill-skills by a disgraced MI6 agent (Jude Law), Stephanie adopts a new identity, tracks down those responsible and deals out their just desserts.

Directed by Reed Marano (Frozen River, The Skeleton Twins), Mark Burnell’s script adapted his 448 page 1999 novel, the first in his ‘Stephanie Patrick’ series. Produced by 007 flame keepers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the hope was the movie might kick off sequels. Production squabbles and an accident delayed release for a couple of years, finally emerging in the dead zone of January, 2020. Sprung into 3,049 theaters, it was clobbered by critics, and after two weeks of dismal earnings, Paramount yanked it out of 2,955 venues. The $5,990,000 gross was an embarrassing catastrophe after $50,000,000 was spent making it; then double the hurt with advertising expenses. Series, abort.

None of the movies mentioned above fall into the ‘cheerful’ category: some are more believable and move better than others, some are only salvaged by their leading lady’s commitment and the ferocity of the fight scenes, and that is true of this relentlessly dour entry, which takes too long to get going, has no-one beyond Lively to hook attention, attraction or affinity to, and ends with a been-there & who cares shrug. The contrived script is simultaneously slack and overly complicated, and someone made the jarringly wrong decision to periodically drop 1960’s pop oldies “I’m Sorry”, “It’s Now Or Never” into the soundtrack; this ‘cute’ touch is jarringly out of place.

The action scenes are extra bruising, which makes sense since Stephanie’s training was an accelerated forlorn hope; and Lively delivers the physical bravado she brought to The Shallows.  That comes as a saving grace release valve, since otherwise her character is submerged in grief and bitterness; understandable and well-conveyed but not much fun to watch. That swim across a frigid lake sequence guarantees a shiver, though.

STEPHANIE: “You can’t have sex with me.”  PROCTOR: “That’s a relief.”

Other than the interjection of the pop tunes, Steve Mazzaro’s score is all right. Location work was conducted in Ireland (as Scotland) and Spain (with Almeria doubling as Tangier and Cadiz as Marseilles). With Sterling K. Brown (unconvincing as an Intel broker contact), Raza Jeffrey (journalist ‘Proctor’ who finds Stephanie working in a brothel), Richard Brake (looking like a strung-out Neil Young) and Tawfeek Barhom (bomb planter). 110 minutes.