Tom George
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Connections, in both directions
Also on the radar is movie mogul John Woolfe (Reece Shearsmith) who was the actual producer of the Humphrey Bogart classic “The African Queen” his wife Edana Roney (Sian Clifford) and pompous screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo – underused, though funny when showcased).
Not always given the opportunity to perform light comedy, Saoirse Ronan is an adorably funny delight as Constable Stalker, a walking cinematic encyclopedia who speaks in puns and could go on about The African Queen.
When See How They Run’s trailer was released, many compared it to the works of Wes Anderson and Rian Johnson’s recent star-studded whodunit, Knives Out .
The witty, pre-pandemic Daniel Craig vehicle Knives Out whetted an appetite once more for spoofing Agatha Christie.
There’s a touch of Wes Anderson and Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out – although I think it’s fair to say that it’s not nearly as good as the latter’s Christie-influenced film.
See How They Run yearns to balance the scales somewhere between Christie’s classics and more modern fare (comparisons to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out are to be expected), but despite some stylistic flourishes from director Tom George (making his feature debut), the finished product struggles to achieve a fully formed identity of its own.
Flashbacks, cross-cutting, and other stylistic tricks ramp up the procedural qualities, giving it a bit of a modern feel similar to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out.
And then the excellent Knives Out (2019) saw Rian Johnson create an original Christie-style whodunnit with modern twists.
Be it Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None , Christie knew how to turn each of her players into a standout.
The theatrical production of The Mousetrap looms large here, but director George is no Hitchcock and this generally lacklustre film about murder in London’s theatreland is no Stage Fright (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950).
Before you know it remakes of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile are getting greenlit.
But, look at classic Christie versions like “Death on the Nile“, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Evil Under The Sun”.
I think I liked See How They Run even more because I didn't like Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile earlier this year.
Kenneth Branagh adapted two of Christie’s most famous Hercule Poirot novels, Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022).
He later became a movie director and even starred in Jurassic Park many years later.
Oh wait, he's a real person -- Attenborough appeared in Jurassic Park and directed Gandhi -- who apparently never murdered anyone, so certainly they wouldn't make him the killer, right?
The title card that ends classic French shocker Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955) asks the audience not to reveal that film’s ending to the audience.
When watching “See How They Run”, it becomes clear that cinematographer Jamie Ramsay (“Moffie”, “District 9”) was either inspired by “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, wanted to honour Wes Anderson his work or a combination of both.
Instead, insert Brian Cox, and let him revise his dedicated but frequently agitated Captain O’Hagan from “Super Troopers” (2001), as Stalker’s mentor.
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
influenced See How They Run (2022)
Themes Plot
After Kenneth Branagh’s modern adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel Murder on the Orient Express made bank in 2017, many filmmakers came out of the woodwork with whodunnit features, primarily within the realm of comedy.
Before you know it remakes of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile are getting greenlit.
But, look at classic Christie versions like “Death on the Nile“, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Evil Under The Sun”.
Be it Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None , Christie knew how to turn each of her players into a standout.
A deliciously meta, chucklesome confection, it plays with theatrical fact just as Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds toyed with German history and his Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood teased American legend.
But, look at classic Christie versions like “Death on the Nile“, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Evil Under The Sun”.
Adrien Brody’s Leo Köpernick—our narrator from beyond the grave in tried-and-true noir fashion, much like Sunset Boulevard—calls “The Mousetrap” Agatha Christie’s whodunit “second-rate.”
Given that the script augments her lines with phrases like, “If I may be so bold” (assuming these weren’t improvised), she invites comparisons with the deferential Philip Stone in The Shining , (Stanley Kubrick, 1980).
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced See How They Run (2022)
A deliciously meta, chucklesome confection, it plays with theatrical fact just as Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds toyed with German history and his Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood teased American legend.
How about the money-hungry producer, John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith, Shaun of the Dead , The World’s End ), or maybe the film’s pompous, uptight screenwriter Mervyn Cocker Norris (David Oyelowo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes , Selma )? Better yet, the play’s mastermind Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson, True Things , Saving Mr. Banks ), Petula’s seafood-loving mother (Ania Marson), or Mervyn’s cousin the amateur taxidermist Gio (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, The Last Letter From Your Lover , Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywaler ) could be behind it all.