When I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, I found extreme joy in realising this novella was an essential architype for whodunnits in the many years to come. The mystery, the reveal, the clearly superior detective, the convoluted motive and the somehow even more convoluted murder. So, I found a nostalgic happiness with See How They Run, in which an unlikeable movie director is murdered and it’s up to the enigmatic Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and excitable Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) to discover the true killer.
The best quality the film has is that it knows what its plot is and does not overstep. It is a charming comfort film that is so aware of its classic whodunnit pedigree. It even takes the opportunity to poke fun at itself, due to self-aware flashbacks and enough sarcastic narration that wouldn’t feel out of place in a significantly less violent version of Deadpool.
But what is a proper murder mystery without a variety of colourful characters? This film has a brilliant cast chock full of suspects including Leo Köpernick (Adrian Brody) and Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson). Yet all are overshadowed by the brilliant Sam Rockwell who offers a charmingly tragi-comedic take on the world-weary detective, and the show stealing Saoirse Ronan who is bubbly and exciting throughout, cementing Ronan’s clear skill in the comedy genre.
However, this movie’s greatest strength is also its biggest weakness. The self-awareness, though funny, does sometimes come off as a bit pretentious and repetitive. Tension is squandered in the final act due to this insistence on self-recognition and leads to a less than satisfying reveal. Also, despite some editing and cinematography echoing Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright, this film had the potential to be more stylish than it was. The settings and locations used had the potential to be something more, yet they fell just short of greatness as 1950’s London never feels successfully utilised.
In a world where too many films are either overly complex, plain bad or dominated by whatever rubbish live action remake Disney is churning out every week, this is a welcome change. To have something that focuses on being an engaging and pacy tale you can smile at, rather than a confusing masterpiece. The movie is funny, cute and harmless. Ok, despite the actual murder. It may be argued that this innocent nature is the movie playing it too safe, however, I had a blast taking my brain out for an hour and a half and enjoying the quirky love letter to Agatha Christie.
3/5
Image Credits – The MovieDB