Blake Lively plays an everyday person-turned highly skilled assassin in the trailer for Reed Morano’s The Rhythm Section. The upcoming action-thriller was once scheduled to arrive in February 2019, but ended up being delayed after Lively suffered a hand injury early on during production. Paramount later postponed it to late November and then again to January 2020, presumably to avoid having to pit The Rhythm Section against the many other movies that are currently slated to bow over this year’s pre-Thanksgiving weekend (like 21 Bridges and Frozen II).

Adapted from the novel by Mark Burnell (who also wrote the screenplay), The Rhythm Section stars Lively as Stephanie Patrick, an ordinary woman whose family is killed during a flight that she was supposed to be on. However, when she learns the plane crash was no accident, Stephanie takes on the identity of an assassin and sets out to find the people responsible. And now, thanks to its newly-unveiled trailer, viewers can get their first look at Lively going full Jason Bourne in the film.

Paramount released The Rhythm Section trailer online today, ahead of its premiere in theaters with movies like Rambo: Last Blood this weekend. Check it out below, along with the film’s poster.

As seen in the trailer, Jude Law costars in The Rhythm Section as Stephanie’s mentor, aiding her on her search for revenge while at the same time cautioning her that, even if she’s successful, “it won’t be worth it”. The promo also offers a glimpse of Sterling K. Brown’s character - who, as indicated by one quick shot here, serves as Lively’s quasi-romantic interest in the film. Overall, though, the trailer suggests The Rhythm Section is a pretty stark and hard-hitting assassin thriller that’s closer to a Bourne movie than a more romanticized globe-trotting adventure (a la old-school James Bond). It ought to play to Moreno’s strengths as a storyteller in that respect, considering she’s come to specialize in material that digs deeply into its characters’ trauma and troubled emotions through the lens of extraordinary situations (a la her post-apocalyptic drama, I Think We’re Alone Now, and her work on The Handmaid’s Tale).

However the film turns out as a whole, The Rhythm Section is in a much better position to succeed now than it was when it was scheduled to drop near the end of November. It’s currently set to face-off against the horror-flavored fairy tale retelling Gretel & Hansel during its opening weekend, but there should be room enough for both movies to make a tidy sum at the box office (assuming, of course, word of mouth is generally positive). With a little luck, The Rhythm Section may yet become a hit and deliver on its promise of being an exciting, yet emotionally gritty and thoughtful action thriller for older audiences.

Source: Paramount Pictures

  • The Rhythm Section Release Date: 2020-01-31