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‘See How They Run’ – Review

‘See How They Run’ – Review

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Sometimes quirky is just the way to go and that’s exactly where See How They Run takes its audience with an intriguing whodunnit mystery that will have you in hysterics, while also keeping you guessing right up to the very end.

In the 1950s, sleazy American Hollywood film director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) visiting London sets out to adapt a popular stage play into a film, but things go off the rails when the director is murdered. World-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and rookie Police Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) find themselves amid a puzzling Agatha Christie-style whodunnit.

For audiences who are looking for something different and have an appetite for the quirky director Tom George’s See How They Run is a very nice bit of fun. A whimsical, absurdist and witty whodunnit mystery, See How They Run takes an eclectic group of characters, many of them based on real-life persons and throws them into a dastardly tale of murder and mischief. When shady filmmaker Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) is killed, the production team behind Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap are all suspects in a chilling game of cat and mouse and soon gruff Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and his over-eager rookie partner Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) find themselves right in the middle of murder spree with a killer who is getting bolder by the minute.

Packed together with off-beat characters and an eccentric style, director Tom George employs a very dry wit to deliver this story and he’s got a lot going with his talented cast. See How They Run is very much a character-driven story, and he takes his leading cast into entirely new directions with their performances. Chief among them is Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell who switches things up as the rather hoarse police detective Inspector Stoppard, and Rockwell makes a go of it with this very different character. Paired next to him is the very versatile Saoirse Ronan as rookie policewoman Constable Stalker and her all-to-eager sense of enthusiasm makes her a stand-out member of the cast.

While there’s a good dose of moody crime and murder going on in See How They Run, it was the film’s unique dry comedy that won me over as an audience member. George’s film is incredibly dry and idiosyncratic in its delivery and he manages to find a good dose of laughs in this narrative, which alongside its 1950s decor and styling makes it all the more hilarious when the time calls for it. This use of comedy also helps to keep the audience in a state of suspense about the story and it’s a wickedly good use of narrative to help propel the plot forward.

If you’re seeking something a little bit different and slightly left of centre, then See How They Run makes for a very fun watch.

Image: 20th Century Studios