Finally watched The Rhythm Section, the film adaptation of the first of a really great book series by Mark Burnell, who also wrote the script. The film was absolutely slated by critics, which seems pretty unfair. It's better than most Hollywood dross. youtube.com/watch?v=0Uq_5b…
The best bits? An electrifying car chase that shows you can exhibit concern for pedestrians without detracting from the thrill - if anything, it accentuates the excitement. Bourne-style action but without the jerky camera-work & the right glam-grit combo.
It probably helps that despite being a macho action movie, the lead, director & producer are all female. Producer was Barbara Broccoli - I'm guessing this movie was dipping a toe in the water for a viable Bond alternative,: fresher, updated, grittier, more psychological & brutal.
Penelope Lively captures Stephanie Patrick's vulnerability but the character arc from junkie prostitute to ruthless assassin is barely & even then, apologetically completed in the film, which is a (understandable) mis-step.
It's always a risk starting a potential franchise with the origin story - there's too much flabby back-story to build into the plot (which fans might be prepared to put up with later, once they're familiar with & curious about the characters) leaving insufficient time for action.
That mirrors the way I came to the book quartet. I avoided the first one and in fact all of them for a long time - the plot sounded like a straight rip-off the La Femme Nikita, and why did Burnell make his protagonist's alter ego the name of a massive news agency?
In the end, I read Mark Burnell's series 2, 3, 4, then 1: The Rhythm Section and I'd recommend them to anyone who likes classy but violent thrillers (the kind who's perhaps attracted by Ludlum-like blurbs but put off by the clunky writing & crass, simplistic characterisations).
(For the record, I think the Bourne films, certainly the earlier ones, were far superior to the books.)
As it is, for all its imperfections (and there are plenty) #TheRhythmSection was superior to any of the Bond output since Casino Royale & certainly a good enough foundation stone on which to build out the Stephanie Patrick series: the book series got better & better.
I'd also love to think Mark Burnell had a literary Stephanie Patrick swansong up his sleeve but he served up a pretty perfect denouement in The Third Woman. But I bet he's got the screen adaptations of the other three books pre-written... goodreads.com/book/show/1557…