An Old-Fashioned Reinterpretation of an Obsolete Story
From the old-English dialogue, outdated stage designs, and Agatha-Christie-style narrative, See How They Run gives the vibe of a conventional detective drama. Such genre often follows the pattern of happening in an unusual setting — like an express, an airplane, or a theatre — having a gallery of storyful suspects, and tracking the perspective of a neutral investigator, as the movie complies to every one of these. The fun of detective fiction is the overturn of audience expectations, whether a tragic motive or a brilliant execution - however, this the movie fails in.
See How They Run presents a murder that could not get any simpler, a group of obviously innocent smoke grenade suspects, and the true murderer with terrible objectives. There’ no point in degrading Agatha Christie and her work’s reputation, there’s no point in naming the film See How They Run without explaining what it means, and there’s no point in having Adrien Brody play a body for god’s sake. If the movie is a satire to the heartlessness of the entertainment industry, the ending ironically shows that the performance keeps on going despite the multiple murders.
Overall, the comedy between the contrasting characters of Ronan and Rockwell is occasionally funny, but I would recommend Knives Out if you’re looking for a decent detective drama.