The problem with a whodunit by today’s standards is how overly familiar we are with the concept. When you look at Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, both embraced the conventions of Agatha Christie’s source material, which has been adapted numerous times throughout the decades. And then comes Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, which took apart the traits of the Agatha Christie-style whodunit and putting it back together where the twisting and turning isn’t that obvious. While it’ll be interesting to see what Johnson does with the sequel to his 2019 mystery film, See How They Run puts its own meta spin on this well-worn genre.
From the opening narration by Adrien Brody’s hotshot American film director Leo Köpernick, the film addresses right away the over-familiarity of a whodunit, as he wants to bring something new with his pending movie version of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, a smash-hit play in the West End of 1950s London. However, when Köpernick is found murdered in the theater, it is up to world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) to solve the case before anyone else from the play’s cast and crew becomes the next victim.
With its period setting and a variety of characters, some of which include factual people such as Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson), being established about what motive they may have towards the murder, the set-up is there for a classic whodunit whilst a stage production of a whodunit is happening concurrently. Despite the horrible murder, Mark Chappell’s screenplay makes light of the situation, in how the characters make a meta-commentary about the conventions of the genre and then they happen immediately, such as David Oyelowo’s pretentious screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris criticizes the use of flashbacks, which then humorously happens.
Although it is unfair to directly compare one film with another, it is hard not to with See How They Run, which is released in between two Knives Out movies. There are some fun detours along the way, but it doesn’t quite fulfill the subversions that Johnson’s film achieved, resulting in the predictable climax from these types of films, in that we know who the killer is. That said, Tom George – having previously directed comedy for UK television – makes a stylish feature debut that presents 1950s London that is somewhat stylized, evoking American film-noir, whilst featuring a surreal dream sequence.
Another tradition that this film embraces is the fun ensemble cast, most notably Adrien Brody, who is having the most fun as a brash American director whose vision seems so at odds with Agatha Christie’s original vision. However, the standouts are the central buddy-cop relationship between Rockwell’s Stoppard and Ronan’s Stalker. Whilst the former achieves a Sam Spade-like appearance as well as a gravely English accent, the latter steals every scene with her comic timing as an overly-ambitious rookie who is always jumping to conclusions, which leads to one of the aforementioned fun detours.
See How They Run comes to theaters September 16
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