The Best and Worst Films of 2022

I watched over 230 films I had never seen before this year according to my Letterboxd. This feels like a crazy figure, and is really a sign of just how crazy this year has been for me personally. I took on a lot of new challenges in my life this year, met lots of new people and with new friends comes new film recommendations. Now my final list today won't be 230 odd long, that would be insane, but it will be a collection of all 58 new release films I went out to review. This is a pretty interesting list in my opinion; not least because this is the first year since 2016 that I haven't had a superhero or animated feature make the Top 5. 

This year has been a really weird one for me as a film fan and I find it quite a strange one to talk about. The past few years has seen me bring streaming exclusives into my review list more often and my top 5 and bottom 5 have a smattering of both. Yet this year saw HBOMax start axing already completed films and shows for the sake of tax breaks and profit, a move that left me quite uncomfortable. Beyond this a number of original content on the service was just vaulted for the same reason; not shopped around to other platforms, vaulted. It's a real sign of the dangerous other side of streaming, in which these features are really treated more as product and value than story and art. I acknowledge that it can be somewhat short-sighted to think making film through big studios is ever going to be seen as anything else, but I firmly believe the inherent value of cinema is storytelling - it is one of the most modern examples of conveying story from one person to a crowd of others. So that situation definitely left me feeling a bit bleak.

More than that, this year more than most I've come to grow tired of how we report on film. Don't Worry Darling became more about the behind the scenes drama than what the feature presented was like, Avatar: The Way Of Water was more about the discourse of whether it could even make a viable profit and even films like Top Gun: Maverick were reported on for being the superhero blockbuster killer. Articles come out now trying to mass report these things, every day has to be the exclusive. You get articles hawking speculation around when the first trailer for a film is going to drop. Studios release promo for thirty second teaser trailers these days. I remember when people used to talk about genre fatigue for things like superhero films or sci-fi features but I think the state of how we discuss film now is creating a perception around cinema that is fragile and easy to break, one loose rumour that pop culture news sites who don't vet their sources report on have affected entire film releases this year. I love the simple expression of joy going to the theatre brings, I hope we can recapture that feeling in how we talk about it.

Around October of this year I started the new venture of filming my reviews, something I'd been passionate about doing and have had encouragement to do for awhile. And I loved doing it, I got to be creative and doing things writing here would have otherwise restricted me from doing. I do a bit of video editing within my profession so it was a nice chance to stretch my skills a bit too. But over the course of doing multiple video film reviews at home while also doing editing at work, it came to feel like I was doing work at home. The reviews didn't become fun even though I so doggedly enjoyed seeing a film a week to review. As one of my writer friends advised me: don't do something to do it, do it because you enjoy it and are passionate about making it. I love seeing film every week and expressing that experience. But for the sake of my love for this whole reviewing process I'm going to carry on writing down my thoughts. However, if you want to see some of my shorter skits and antics around the films I watch once a week you can find my TikTok profile here.

As for what I saw this year, allow me to walk you through some of the high and lows I got to experience in theatres this year...

The Best:

 

 

5. Top Gun: Maverick - 9/10

 

Three months ago I was convinced this was going to be 2nd place for film of the year. It's still very comfortably my favourite blockbuster feature of 2022, and considering how much audience acclaim and box office it pulled that's probably shared sentiment. Top Gun: Maverick is an interesting one for me, I saw the first feature quite late in my life and was never really as connected to the hype. I often felt the first one was quite similar to the protagonist, cocky and overly sure of itself. But this film lovingly pays homage to the original while also finding all the right ways to evolve beyond it. The characterisation of Maverick is just exemplary, you see the man mature and sober up over the course of the film. I know we're getting Cruise back doing Mission Impossible soon but the work he has done here is some of the very best in his later career. But more than this Top Gun: Maverick manages to achieve a new way of capturing practical effects and flying that makes the cinematography throughout the feature some of the very best of 2022. James Cameron made a visually striking blockbuster with Avatar: Way of Water but Top Gun: Maverick is a beautiful reminder that cinema is a combination of beautiful visual design paired with a masterful script.

Check out my Top Gun: Maverick review! 

 

 

 

4. The Menu - 9/10

 

I wasn't even going to watch The Menu originally, I was going to watch Violent Night right up until it got like no release at all in New Zealand. So on a whim I stumbled upon the best thriller of 2022. This is a film I felt really had a finger on the pulse with how it discussed class disparity in 2022. This idea of the serving/working class at the whim of the wealthy and often inept one percent is not necessarily a new idea but the way it is presented here achieves something powerful. Mark Mylod is a director I want to see do more because if we get more films half a fraction as gripping as The Menu was we'd all be lucky. Also while The Menu is only the fourth best film of the year it probably boasts my favourite acting performance of 2022: Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik.

Check out my The Menu review!

 

 

3. The Fallout - 9/10

 

This film was my number one film of the year end of January and nothing, NOTHING, dethroned this film until the month of October. That is because this film is such an important dramatic coming of age story around the impact of gun violence in America, particularly in relation to American schools. For years growing up I have seen gun violence in America talked about, every year of my life from being a child with no understanding to an adult who gets to see and understand the impact of these life-changing horrific events. This film takes the very rare perspective of not showing the gunman but instead looking at a group of teenagers who survive the attack and the impact this event has on their mental health after that moment. It is such a grounded feature with some very good points to make about how relationships change, the fear and distance that is created and the road to recovery. The Fallout knows that it has to come at things from the perspective of its Gen Z protagonist, so you wind up with some of the most biting and realistic dialogue of the year. Also worth noting is Jenna Ortega, whom most people would have watched in Scream or Wednesday this year. The Fallout is beyond a doubt some of Ortega's best work to date and marks her as a major actress to watch out for over the next few years.

 

Check out my The Fallout review! 

 

 

2. Bros - 9.5/10

 

There will never be a film reviewer who scores everything identically to the other, or I hope not anyway. Film is like any art form, it is experienced differently by each individual who interacts with it. When I came out as bisexual earlier in 2022 I really began to learn a lot more about what that meant, particularly feeling the lack of male bi representation in media. What Bros does by presenting a romantic comedy that has a gay romantic story at its centre is give something back to the LGBTQ+ community that has otherwise only really existed in heterosexual media for awhile now. But greater than this? This film takes the time to really talk about queer history and culture, the entire main cast being LGBTQ+ and racially diverse is a massive deal. I felt so overwhelmingly empowered watching Jim Rash rep bi men in this film, and overall this is a lovely endearing feature that I think everyone should watch at least once. Oh and here's to seeing more trans performers playing trans characters, that shit was great! Less Eddie Redmayne playing trans women in the world please.

 

Check out my Bros review! 

 

 

1. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - 9.5/10

 

Turns out lightning really can strike twice, particularly for director Rian Johnson and his Knives Out universe. Back in 2019 I went into Knives Out with low expectations having gone through a lot of Johnson's filmography and feeling underwhelmed. But then I experienced a massive shake up of the whodunnit mystery genre; move aside Agatha Christie there's a new name to remember. So going into Glass Onion I had some pretty high expectations. Yet it is very apparent almost straight away that you are going to be getting a very similar quality of movie here, though an extremely different and exciting narrative. Another film this year that has quite an cool message around modern class, particularly how we treat billionaires as celebrities these days. All I got to say is: Elon Musk, eat your heart out.

 

Check out my Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery review! 

 

This top five was really interesting from previous years, I really felt like smaller releases got rewarded for their creativity this year. There was a lot that came out this year like The Fallout or The Menu that just didn't get the same level of coverage as bigger movies that weren't worth the level of box office attention or news media hype they got. I liked seeing some underdogs really get represented in my top contenders for the year. I'm also overjoyed that more traditional blockbusters made a bit of a comeback as evidenced by Top Gun: Maverick making my top 5. Now, without further ado, my five worst films of 2022...

 

 

 

5. Ambulance - 2/10

 

The first of my bottom five for 2022 marks a trend a few may notice for my bottom five. There's a number of very well-known directors here that are living their very best slump era: starting with Michael Bay's Ambulance. The script here is agonisingly simple, with a brother who wants to be a criminal and another who doesn't. Seeing this pair botch their way through a robbery and hostage situation with some of the worst dialogue of 2022 and an absolutely overstuffed cast made this a rough watch. Something that I also hated that The Gray Man also employed too much of was drone cinematography. What I mean by this is that drone shots were positioned in the film far more frequently than usual to capture a certain frantic visual style. But it is probably one of the ugliest filming trends I've seen out of Hollywood in the past couple of years.

 

Check out my Ambulance review! 

 

 

 

4. Interceptor - 1.5/10

 

The most amateur looking film of my bottom five is without a doubt Interceptor. This is a film that looks like it was made with an inexperienced hand and a vision that yearned for low-budget 70s and 80s action films to be cool again. The film has a serious theme around sexual misconduct in the military floating in the background but it drowns it under empowered speeches dedicated to American patriotism that often ring hollow. Interceptor and Spiderhead both being Netflix originals that released this year with obvious Chris Hemsworth ties felt very on the nose and the consequence of this is obvious in this feature. Here Chris Hemsworth gives a great one to two minute cameo as a TV salesman. His wife, Elsa Pataky, leads the feature in what has to be one of the worst leading performances of the year.

 

Check out my Interceptor review! 

 

 

 

3. Pinocchio - 1.5/10

 

Robert Zemeckis used to be one of the best in the business, but that hasn't been true over the course of his past few projects. And it's not like the man can't make a good family film, he directed Back to the Future for crying out loud. But what we get with this iteration of Pinocchio is an almost joyless adaptation of the 1940 Disney animated film; the special effects are glaringly shoved into every scene and the shooting here is disastrous at best. There are a number of quite bad performances and a lot of what was loved in the original animated feature feels poorly imitated here. Disney Plus original films haven't garnered a lot of faith in me so far but I never expected Zemeckis to make one of the worst ones.

 

Check out my Pinocchio review! 

 

 

 

2. Moonfall - 1/10

 

Speaking of famous directors stumbling about in their latter years, how about Roland Emmerich's Moonfall? Now granted, Emmerich has made some real stinkers multiple times over the years so the fact he's flubbed things yet again is maybe no surprise. This is the dark side of two types of blockbuster genre: the disaster movie and a sci-fi film. One could have functioned without the other but because the disaster side of this film went all out insane like Emmerich's other infamous disaster film: 2012; and because the sci-fi aspect of the film is written in a way that makes no sense and really stretches the imagination to a breaking point the whole thing doesn't work. This film is also thoroughly miscast the whole way through but no more so than the lead three performers, none of whom entirely fit their role very well.

 

Check out my Moonfall review! 

 

 

 

1. Secret Headquarters - 1/10

 

Think the special effects of Shark Boy and Lava Girl but with none of the distinctive style or charm of that 2000s era family film backing it up. Secret Headquarters poses itself as a superhero film but everything that would make this a cool superhero feature tends to be remarkably absent. Most significantly the main superhero character and antagonist. None of what brings this movie together visually ever actually works and it's no surprise to me that this was one of the first features released solely on Paramount+. The most glaring issue with Secret Headquarters is that it relies heavily on a very young cast to lead the film with a weak script backing them. There is no moment where I felt captured by this film because it didn't find the angle to tell or present this story in an interesting way. It felt like a concept that got pushed into pre-production and beyond far too quickly.

 

Check out my Secret Headquarters review! 

 

So concludes another wrap up of the year's best and worst films, as always I'm keen to hear what your own favourite and least favourite films were! Here's to a new decade of exciting cinema ahead! For those curious where your favourite film of 2022 wound up check my list below to see my complete rankings:

 

1.       Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – 9.5/10

2.       Bros – 9.5/10

3.       The Fallout – 9/10

4.       The Menu – 9/10

5.       Top Gun: Maverick – 9/10

6.       Prey – 8.5/10

7.       Not Okay – 8.5/10

8.       Puss In Boots: The Last Wish – 8.5/10

9.       Nightmare Alley – 8.5/10

10.   The Survivor – 8/10

11.   Nope – 8/10

12.   Bullet Train – 8/10

13.   Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – 8/10

14.   The Banshees Of Inisherin – 8/10

15.   Thor: Love And Thunder – 8/10

16.   Scream – 7.5/10

17.   Sonic The Hedgehog 2 – 7.5/10

18.   Everything Everywhere All At Once – 7.5/10

19.   Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – 7.5/10

20.   Persuasion – 7.5/10

21.   Where The Crawdads Sing – 7.5/10

22.   See How They Run – 7/10

23.   Minions: The Rise Of Gru – 7/10

24.   The Northman – 6.5/10

25.   Elvis – 6.5/10

26.   Beast – 6.5/10

27.   The Lost City – 6.5/10

28.   Avatar: The Way Of Water – 6/10

29.   The King’s Man – 6/10

30.   Cyrano – 6/10

31.   Weird: The Al Yankovic Story – 6/10

32.   Don’t Worry Darling – 6/10

33.   The Adam Project – 6/10

34.   Jurassic World: Dominion – 6/10

35.   Disenchanted – 6/10

36.   Lightyear – 6/10

37.   House Of Gucci – 5.5/10

38.   Uncharted – 5.5/10

39.   DC League Of Super-Pets – 5.5/10

40.   The Batman – 4.5/10

41.   Blonde – 4.5/10

42.   Marry Me – 4/10

43.   The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent – 4/10

44.   Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore – 4/10

45.   Deep Water – 4/10

46.   Three Thousand Years Of Longing – 4/10

47.   Rosaline – 4/10

48.   Senior Year – 3.5/10

49.   Morbius – 3.5/10

50.   Black Adam – 3/10

51.   Day Shift – 3/10

52.   The Gray Man – 2.5/10

53.   The 355 – 2.5/10

54.   Ambulance – 2/10

55.   Interceptor – 1.5/10

56.   Pinocchio – 1.5/10

57.   Moonfall – 1/10

58.   Secret Headquarters – 1/10

 

Blonde

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Blonde is a very surrealist biopic that examines the life of Marilyn Monroe; specifically the tragedies she experienced. I really liked how this film presented the idea of Marilyn's dual sense of self, her relationship with her own sense of identity. There is a big aspect of this film that questions the divide between Norma Jeane and Marilyn Monroe, which I found very fascinating to see played out. Marilyn Monroe almost consumed Norma Jeane by the end of the film and I found that to be a very interesting take on this particular individual. I also felt that there was a fair level of condemnation of how Hollywood abused Marilyn, worse than this there is a theme of wider condemnation for the sexual abuse that has too often been swept under the rug in the film industry.

 

This film has a very scattered and varied visual style that I found unique; the unexpected ways this film was presented to us really served a story that made us question the reality of Marilyn Monroe. I loved that throughout sequences the aspect ratio, the style of filming could all change at the drop of a hat. The film never adhered to one moment of style, instead choosing to leave you guessing but almost always picking the boldest visual. The way colouring in a scene could jump from black and white to oversaturated lighting was very intriguing, even how in focus a camera was served this approach.

 

Julianne Nicholson, who played Gladys, starts this film off extremely powerfully; Nicholson is a volatile figure who is entirely unpredictable and wild in her scenes. Evan Williams and Xavier Samuel, who played Eddy Robinson Jr. and Cass Chaplin respectively, are very charismatic indivudals who share great chemistry with de Armas; I found Samuel especially to be quite a poignant and reflective performance. 

 

However, the best performance came from Ana de Armas, who played Norma Jeane. This actress is one of my current favourite performers who I'm really enjoying see step into larger parts. Films like Knives Out, Blade Runner 2049 and No Time To Die have cemented de Armas as an actress with a lot of talent and range. Thus far 2022 has seen her in films that have really not given her much opportunity to showcase her talent, features such as Deep Water or The Gray Man. Yet watching this performance highlighted to me why de Armas is so compelling as a lead performer. From the moment she enters the frame de Armas presents Marilyn as this jovial presence wanting to impress, she has an intellect and confidence that dwindles in the assertiveness of others. You watch de Armas start a scene filled with pure happiness and she can be entirely beset into racking sobs by the scenes end. The journey de Armas can take herself on emotionally is chameleon-like, she immerses herself in this role entirely. She brings a light, breezy air to Marilyn; she feels almost ethereal with her delivery. Yet when the film wants Marilyn to break, or launch into outbursts or wrestle with her sense of self you get these heavy punches of emotion. The portrayal of a psyche so changed by years of abuse and neglect is very intricate and respectfully performed by de Armas. This might be far from the best film Ana de Armas has ever been in but she fights tooth and nail to do justice by Marilyn Monroe in her portrayal.

So where does Blonde go wrong? Well from a tone perspective I often appreciate if a film that is three hours long can develop a more multi-faceted approach to storytelling. Blonde is a tragic film that defines Marilyn Monroe by her tragedies and never by her successes or moments of joy. It really reduced the role for me and gave the entire feature quite a two-dimensional take. I was really disappointed that from the second act onwards Marilyn's character was essentially comprised of her issues with her absent father, her history with sexual abuse and her three miscarriages. The very essence of who Marilyn Monroe was became more about the times she was a victim and less about who she was as a person. I really felt the writer failed to grasp something real, instead choosing to cast this more perverted lens over Marilyn Monroe's life to make the film seem provocative. I was largely a fan of the varied visual style but there is no denying that sitting with it for as long as you do becomes somewhat jarring after a time. I was especially surprised that they even included a 9:16 aspect ratio smartphone shot in one scene. The film looked like a film school graduate's attempt to make something very experimental and out there, but there did need to be a little more consistency than there was. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' score was immediately forgettable; often warbling in the background and absent in the scenes that would have benefitted from an emotional score the most.

Lily Fisher, who played Young Norma Jeane, is a young performer who is clearly still developing her skill; Fisher's overly earnest portrayal just doesn't hit the emotional stakes her scenes require. Dan Butler, who played I.E. Shinn, gives a very muted performance; Butler's mousey and meek demeanour doesn't fit the power dynamic his character has with de Armas' Marilyn. Toby Huss, who played Whitey, is a little strange as far as side performances go; I never really bought Huss as a best friend/confidante to de Armas. Bobby Cannavale, who played The Ex-Athlete, doesn't ever feel very present in this feature; Cannavale's stoic delivery lacks the initial charm required. Adrien Brody, who played The Playwright, gives a remarkably hollow performance; you could have told me his character lacked personality and I would believe you. Caspar Phillipson, who played The President, is just here to play a sexed up brutish version of JFK; there's looking the part and then there's playing the part which I think Phillipson missed here.

I went into this film with very little understanding of Marilyn Monroe and I feel I came out with less. I would give Blonde a 4.5/10.

 

DC League Of Super-Pets

This review may contain spoilers!

 

DC League Of Super-Pets is an animated adventure in which a depowered Krypto the Super-Dog must enlist the help of some newly superpowered shelter pets to stop a maniacal Lex Luthor-obsessed guinea pig from destroying the Justice League. This film has a tremendous approach to what is constantly a very comedic film. There is a real approach here of trying to find something for everyone; be that visual gags, puns, one-liners or even more adult humour like censored curse words and superhero movie references. I appreciated that the film knows its strength is going to be how well does a punchline land, prioritising a voice cast predominantly known for their comedy roles and often placing the humour of a scene as the main priority. The animation isn't super detailed by any means but the character designs are very charming; you can also see the effort that goes into making those long fight sequences look visually impressive. The score by Steve Jablonsky is a pretty entertaining light action romp with some fantastic homages to well known DC film scores.

 

Kevin Hart, who voiced Ace, is surprisingly great as the more stoic and serious canine of the film; Hart's drier comedic delivery is different and works well for him. Kate McKinnon, who voiced Lulu, absolutely knocks it out of the park; McKinnon really goes overboard playing this villainous guinea pig which is the exact energy her role demands. John Krasinski, who voiced Superman, works his way into the role quite nicely; Krasinski has a gentle charisma which suits the tone of Superman. Vanessa Bayer, who voiced PB, is really charming as the most enthusiastic of the Super Pets; Bayer switches between PB's excitable and nervous nature very smoothly. Keanu Reeves, who voiced Batman, really suits a more comedic yet serious take on Batman; please move aside Arnett because Reeves is all I want in my animated Batman films for awhile. Olivia Wilde, who voiced Lois Lane, gives the intensity of a hard hitting journalist while also playing the flirty girlfriend of Superman perfectly; Wilde really embraces the fearless energy that has always made Lois Lane such a famous character in a world of superheroes. Jameela Jamil, John Early and Daveed Diggs, who voiced Wonder Woman, The Flash and Cyborg respectively, all really embody their superhero personas quite strongly; I especially liked Early's more comedic delivery as The Flash. Keith David, who voiced Dog-El, is just a genius bit of writing and voice delivery; David really brings some gravitas to some of the more ridiculous lines of the film. Winona Bradshaw, who voiced Whiskers, is the terrifying antagonist I never expected from the film; this very cute sounding feline delivering some of the most spine-tingling lines was a great choice.

 

However, the best performance came from Natasha Lyonne, who voiced Merton. This small and slow turtle leaves in a relatively perpetual state of confusion, making them a really eccentric role to watch. I love Lyonne's distinctive voice and how she manages to use it to mold a role that doesn't fall into a stereotype like some other characters in the film do. Seeing Merton get powers and really bumble through understanding what was going on is fun. More than that there are multiple scenes in which Lyonne really gets to work her comedy chops, having Merton flirt with various objects and animals or other scenes in which Merton gets overwhelmed and descends into censored swearing. Seeing this turtle become the comedic and unassuming powerhouse of the film was the last thing I expected going into this but it was absolutely everything I wanted.

 

DC League Of Super-Pets thrives when it is testing and trialling its comedic material, but as a whole there isn't a lot of plot for the film to stand on. Even the fact the film has an approach to comedy of throwing everything out and seeing what sticks means that some of the jokes fall notably flat. Yet there more pressing problem for the film is the story. At the heart of this film we gets a very generic Superman origin that brings Krypto into the forefront; noting the main character of this film is Krypto and how he relates to Superman will matter the most. But Krypto is never really an interesting role; he simply gets jealous when Superman has a relationship with anyone else and has no friends of his own. Krypto's entire character arc is learning to give Superman space and learning to actually make friends for himself. Half of how that all turns out you'll have probably already guessed if you've bought a ticket for the film. Because the film never does a thing to make Krypto's journey interesting or surprising we're left hoping the superheroics or the subplots will pull it all through. However, the main superhero story around the orange kryptonite is never the focus, in fact you never feel like Lulu's evil doing is something to worry about until the last ten minutes of the feature. The film constantly takes the danger out of scenes, making the consequences lighter and toning things down to hit that younger demograph. I even found the relationships Krypto earns with the other pets to be quite simple all told, there is very little work done to make those character relationships something he earns. The soundtrack for the feature is quite a wide spread of tracks that never have a cohesive theme and only a few actually enhance the comedic tone.

Dwayne Johnson, who voiced Krypto, has fallen a long way from his Moana days with this performance; Johnson has no range in his delivery whatsoever and crafts one of the blandest protagonists of his career. Diego Luna, who voiced Chip, does some very generic voice work here; seeing this rodent erupt into bouts of fear or excitement is never funny nor memorable. Marc Maron, who voiced Lex Luthor, is one of the worst takes on the character I've ever seen; Maron's performance felt more like a mob boss than some criminal genius. Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz, who voiced Keith and Mark respectively, have some monotonous line delivery that I never could find the comedy in their performance; it's always nice to see these two working together but it failed to land here. Maya Erskine, who voiced Mercy Graves, is a pretty stereotypical henchwoman; her gravelly delivery meant she fell into the background pretty quickly. Jemaine Clement and Dascha Polanco, who voiced Aquaman and Green Lantern respectively, were the weaker side of the Justice League performances; Clement's didn't really have a good moment of comedy at all and Polanco's delivery was dismal.

I was laughing almost the whole way through which was almost enough to forget this film has nothing going for it in terms of plot. I would give DC League Of Super-Pets a 5.5/10.

 

See How They Run

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

See How They Run is a whodunnit murder-mystery in which an Inspector/Constable duo must solve the murder of a Hollywood film director who was poised to adapt the successful London West End production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. The first act of this film is an exemplary deconstruction of the whodunnit genre, taking some of the more notable elements and flipping them on their head. The opening narration and character introductions that kick this film off really blew me away, leading right up to the first murder which was an exquisite scene. The film has a strong sense of wit to it; often using a clever visual gag to tie the link between the real and the imagined, or the fictional film/play vs. the plot we're watching. There is a really colourful cast on display here with such differing personalities that I think there'll be something quite fun for everyone. Watching Inspector Stoppard and Constable Stalker suffer one another's worst flaws only to steadily work better and better as a duo made for a solid leading protagonist pair. Their partnership might be nothing new but their dynamic and immense chemistry was something that held my attention from start to finish.

Tom George comes at this film with a distinctive style that definitely had influences of Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright in it I felt. The cinematography really impressed me; the framing was often extremely symmetrical and there were multiple angles that were highly imaginative. The editing for See How They Run was superb, it set a very even pace and had a precise way of cutting a scene to maximum effect. Daniel Pemberton is currently one of the most reliable talents out there right now when it comes to film scores; this helter-skelter melody both grounded the film in the genre and enhanced the comedic tone it was aiming for.

 

Harris Dickinson, who played Richard Attenborough, is a remarkably vain and garish auteur; Dickinson's rather glib remarks about the appearance of those before him and how he approaches his craft is brilliant delivery. Ruth Wilson, who played Petula Spencer, enters the film with a commanding presence; Wilson captures a woman who runs her theatre with a great deal of strength and cunning both. Sian Clifford, who played Edana Romney, might not be in the film much but she carves her path as one of the funniest roles there; Clifford's deadpan yet high-strung delivery often notes the funniest part in any of her scenes. David Oyelowo, who played Mervyn Cocker-Norris, is playing up this pompous extravagant role as much as he can; watching oyelowo portray a snooty braggart is the sort of campy comedy I love from him. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, who played Gio, has a very tumultous and abrasive character; I sincerely loved the very combative relationship between him and Oyelowo. Saoirse Ronan, who played Constable Stalker, steals the show and is only ever really rivalled by Brody for my favourite performance in this film; Ronan portrays a character with abrupt comedic delivery perfectly and manages to still show her incredible intellect all while doing so. Sam Rockwell, who played Inspector Stoppard, is brilliant as the drunken and jaded protagonist; watching Rockwell play this rough-edged detective type against Ronan's lighter role is a lot of fun. Pippa Bennett-Warner, who played Ann Saville, is quite an intensive role who does all the romantic tension work of the on-screen affair between her and Shearsmith; I also liked that she jumped between that and the very taskmaster-like personal assistant archetype at the drop of a hat. Paul Chahidi, who played Fellowes, is a very comic character performer; Chahidi's take on this stiff rude butler being quite abrasive and having to delve into physical comedy was excellent.

However, the best performance came from Adrien Brody, who played Leo Kopernick. This movie had its hooks in me from the very start and so much of it was down to the performance from this man. Brody comes at this role with a very laidback sort of arrogance, he feels like a big shot but he is never as grandiose as some of the other players he is up against. Brody drunkenly stumbles his way through scene dishing deplorable dialogue, generating conflict and giving some of the most scathing voiceover I've heard in a hot minute. He crafts a role you're meant to dislike, but who you also see as charismatic in his own bumbling way. I loved the Brody comes at line delivery in a carefully constructed way; the scene in which he runs through his storyboards is one of the best moments of acting and writing in this. His approach at being this otherwordly version of himself where he tends a bar in the afterlife was another scene I didn't expect but really loved; Brody played a far more aloof version of his role here. Seriously, if Brody's performance doesn't have you hooked in the first five minutes? This probably isn't the film for you.

This film is never quite as good as its very first act. In the second act See How They Run begins to take itself quite seriously, though still making witty gags all along the way. The film really begins to define the characters of our two protagonists, which lends a more dramatic edge the film is not really crying out for. But worse than that there is this messy red herring storyline in which Inspector Stoppard is shopped around as the main antagonist for a bit - though no one in the audience is very convinced by this. The film continues to splutter out as it goes along; the third act has a delightful assembly of setting and elements but the narrative has lost a lot of focus by this point. The revelation of Agatha Christie and the satire of the real life story behind The Mousetrap interacting with this fictional one really starts to get away from what was working in the first act. The jokes begin to sink rather than hit and even the involvement of our protagonists dwindles a little. Overall, See How They Run is an exceptionally creative film that is unable to keep the ball rolling when it comes to its unique concept.

Pearl Chanda, who played Sheila Sim, is often paired with Dickinson and sadly eclipsed by him; Chanda never gets much chance to run with her performance and is often defined by her relationship to other characters. Charlie Cooper, who played Dennis Corrigan, is extraordinarily underwhelming as the major antagonist for the film; Cooper's role has no mean or intimidating streak to him and the big reveal falls apart the moment he starts dealing out dialogue. Reece Shearsmith, who played John Woolf, is quite generic in the meek film executive role; Shearsmith never commands a scene and he often wilts in the face of bigger performances. Tim Key, who played Commissioner Harrold Scott, is often stronger in a more comedic role; despite being lost in hair and make-up transformation Key's straight edge police commissioner is bland. Shirley Henderson, who played Agatha Christie, feels like such a dismal miscast; Henderson presents nothing that even remotely resembles the famous writer or even so much a good parody of her. Lucian Msamati, who played Max Mallowan, is a character very abruptly introduced and made important in the very tail end of the third act; I felt Msamati came in way too late to be given the amount of screen time he was taking up from the main cast.

It is refreshing to see the 'whodunnit' genre steadily making a creative comeback. I would give See How They Run a 7/10.