The Rhythm Section

Paramount’s The Rhythm Section is a thriller centred around Stephanie Patrick, who embarks on a quest for vengeance after she finds the place crash that killed her family was intentional. An earlier trailer from September focused on a cover version of Lead Belly’s classic blues song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”, this time by Sleigh Bells. This last trailer — the film is due out January 31 — is much more dialogue-heavy, and focuses, in a titular nod, to the rhythm of the proceedings. 

The trailer opens with ticking and pizzicato strings alternating at an octave (the same note, up or down a register), in addition to a buzzing, synth sound in the bass. These sounds alternate with other sounds such as a wristwatch-like ticking at four times the speed added in here and there, such as at 0:10-0:11. 

At 0:14 we get a drone or tremolo in the strings with a bit of an indeterminate pitch as it slides down from time to time, with the first of many on-screen synch points — here of a gun — occurring at 0:15. It occurs again with the tapping of a bulletproof vest at 0:22; gunshots at 0:28 and 0:32, and more. 

The music pauses for a brief moment to denote a transition in the narrative at 0:34, only to enter again at 0:36 synched with the foot on the ground and the loading of a gun. Notice at 0:39 that just before the title card for the producers (“from the producers of James Bond”), the lower strings resolve to the home note from a half-step (minor second interval) above, lending a particularly dark feel to the soundtrack. At this point as well, the rhythmic arrangement has evolved, and we now hear insistent, staccato strings. Also notice that this motif repeats every five beats — an unusual timing surely meant to keep listeners more on edge as the trailer picks up energy. A siren enters the mix and is also repeated, sometimes so often that it resembles more the sound effect on a soundboard that it is. At the climax with the car crash, we hear a three-note descending motif played insistently in the strings.

At 0:58 we hear the booj sound effect alongside a dramatic, single-word title card (“rhythm”) — notice how the word itself appears to ripple in response to the sound. In the final section of the trailer, the chaotic soundscape cuts in and out to highlight the contrast of violent scenes and those that lean towards dramatic exposition, in alternation.

Lastly, at 1:17 we see the main title card, but there’s an entire scene afterwards that veers towards humour. Usually the reservation of the tail end of a trailer for a gag is the domain of comedy trailers, but this action-oriented one has been edited to covertly take on that convention on the fly. Perhaps surprisingly, it works well enough, ending on a sight gag. By crossing genres at the end, the trailer is arguably better able to evoke a film that has emotional depth.

— Curtis Perry