Geek Review: See How They Run

Hollywood loves making Whodunits, because mystery fans gobble them up. The genre popularised book to film adaptations including Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, and more recently, gave us Netflix’s own Murder Mystery, feminist-favourite Gone Girl, Daniel Craig’s Knives Out and Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively’s whodunit comedy A Simple Favor, just to name a few. And in between, The Girl on The Train and Se7en remain classics of the genre.

But the truth is, Whodunits have been done so many times that long-time viewers have likely seen it all, as stories become less and less puzzling, and everything seems rather ‘Been there, done that’, but it’s all good fun at the end of the day. 

See How They Run tries to change that. 

Set in London’s West-End in the early ‘50s, See How They Run sees Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, a mystery play from the well-known author, celebrating its 100th performance. The cast includes the celebrated Richard Attenborough (perfectly embodied by Harris Dickinson) and his wife Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda), and on the side, obnoxious Hollywood director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) is visiting the capital city ahead of plans to adapt The Mousetrap into a movie, with screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo) working on the script.

Tensions at the party are running high and an altercation occurs, Köpernick retreats to the wardrobe department of the theatre to fetch a change of clothes, but there’s someone waiting for him… you likely know how it goes. Called onto the case are the jaded, slightly boozy Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell), and rookie police officer, Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan). 

For starters, you don’t need to know or have read Christie’s The Mousetrap because See How They Run isn’t an adaptation of that play. Instead, See How They Run is a murder-mystery movie set on the backdrop of Christie’s murder-mystery book turned play that’s in the works of being a film itself. It’s all really meta and puzzling, making See How They Run a pretty irreverent and fun movie. 

There are plenty of layers to the story and with several suspects – all of whom have legitimate motives for murder – the red herrings pile up and viewers are led to their own conclusions before the movie reveals its big twist. Throughout the film, Rockwell’s Stoppard reminds Ronan’s Stalker not to jump to conclusions so viewers are encouraged to heed said advice when watching the film too – just saying. 

Whilst See How They Run attempts to poke fun at the murder-mystery genre (like its over-use of flashbacks to tell a tale), the story is often told in flashbacks with a rather impish direction style as director Tom George uses title texts and split screens to help piece the various clues and stories in this investigation. The film is super self-aware, yet partakes in the same ironies it attempts to shame, so it’s either distracting or adds to the film’s smart humour. 

That said, the main humour in the film is derived entirely from Ronan’s character, Constable Stalker. The eccentric, determined but impulsive Stalker is played to perfection by Ronan, who sports an Irish accent. She notes everything down in her tiny notebook and has Golden Retriever energy – always eager, slightly annoying yet heartwarming at the same time. Ronan shows that she can handle comedy well and is unafraid to dive into some physical comedy when the scene calls for it. The actress particularly shines when put against Rockwell’s sardonic inspector. Though Rockwell does a good job playing an alcoholic inspector, he isn’t exactly a spotlight stealer and while Ronan leads in the comedy, she’s not exactly a comedian and her characterisation of the Stalker may not be everyone’s cup of tea. 

As for the other actors, David Oyelowo’s Mervyn Cocker-Norris as the over-the-top playwright is electric. Especially when paired with Adrien Brody’s demanding American director. The two carry the first half of the film before Ronan begins grabbing more and more attention, as the story progresses and shifts the focus from the experienced detective as the main protagonist to the rookie. 

Despite such a star-studded ensemble including the likes of The King’s Man Harris Dickinson and His Dark Materials’ Ruth Wilson, most of the ensemble blends into the background. They’re still enjoyable to watch for sure, but neither is particularly attention-stealing which is surprising given how each of them were lead suspects at some point in the movie. If the ensemble had been fleshed out a little more, the twist would’ve been a lot punchier.

Speaking of the twist, See How They Run is able to divert the audience’s attention so much that one is likely unable to pin who the actual murderer is. This unsuspecting twist is appreciated because as mentioned, plenty of whodunit films can be predictable and easy to figure out once you’ve watched too many. It is, however, not as impactful as the film imagines it to be. 

What See How They Run does particularly well is foreshadowing. By the time audiences get to the final act, the tiny subtle breadcrumbs all start to come together and the audience will realise just how meta and self-referential the movie is. Viewers will either love or hate how meta the film is, though we enjoyed it. 

Aside from the lacklustre characters and George’s shameful under-use of an extremely talented ensemble cast, See How They Run has pacing issues. Running for only 1 hour and 38 minutes, See How They Run feels much longer. The movie plays like a two-hour movie which makes the short 1 and a half hour runtime incredibly shocking. We can only attribute this to the fact that the movie starts off fast-paced and then significantly slows down in the middle, before only picking up in the last 20 minutes of the movie. 

In all, See How They Run is an enjoyable murder mystery that has the characters and the viewers running in circles. The film unfortunately underutilises the amount of talent it has but makes up for it with a self-aware script.