Hollywood actress Blake Lively stars as a young woman struggling to overcome the excruciating pain of tragically losing her family in a plane crash. When a stranger tells her that the incident was not an accident, she starts down a darkly mysterious path to avenge their killing, while not knowing whom to trust. Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown co-star.

The Rhythm Section tries hard to be an entertaining and original action-filled, cloak and dagger adventure. But it’s out of step from the beginning, with the nonsensical notion that an average young lady would even be recruited by powerful international forces to be an agent, in the terrorism and counter-terrorism underworld. Further, the film is formulaic down to the obligatory “surprise” ending.

The cast does the best it can. Blake Lively is, indeed lively, in this role. She and her co-stars try hard to make this weak, implausible project work.

Maybe the best aspect of the film is the cinematography. The Rhythm Section is shot from some amazingly creative angles.

It gets an A- for cast diversity. While the cast is small; it does feature multiple men of color in leading and supporting roles.

The Rhythm Section is rated R for violence, sexual content, strong language throughout, and some drug use. And is reasonably timed at 109 minutes.

But this weekend, do yourself a favor, keep stepping past any theater playing The Rhythm Section, and rent it.