When investigative journalist Proctor (Raza Jeffrey) finds Stephanie (Blake Lively) she is an addict and a prostitute, but what he tells her about plane crash that killed her family will send her on a mission to avenge their deaths via some training from ex MI-6 operation B (Jude Law).

I have to admit to being quite excited about this film. I think Blake Lively is a good actress and have really enjoyed her performances in films such as The Age of Adeline, The Shallows and A Simple Favour. It seemed like this would give her the opportunity to give an action performance in a film akin to Atomic Blonde or Mission Impossible. It even has Bond overseer Barbara Broccoli as producer and is based on the first of four books with Stephanie as the lead character. Unfortunately it is mostly a disappointment even if her performance is anything but.

Adapted by the author of the book, Mark Burnell the plot follows a rather perfunctory structure. A normal woman loses her family and falls from grace. Spurred on by a shocking revelation she trains to become an assassin, takes on some starter missions and then seeks revenge. Whilst director Reed Morano does a very good job of the “who can you trust” spy structure the action sequences have a much more mixed success rate. Adopting shaky cam for those scenes is supposed to immerse you further but in most of the cases here make you struggle to get excited. The supporting cast are fine as well but neither Law, Jeffrey or Sterling K. Brown have particularly interesting characters to work with.

Lively is nothing less than interesting though in a role that sets aside her film star looks and allows her to nail a British accent, it just seems like the franchise it could have become won’t happen based on this misfire.