Directed by Simon Stone | Written by Stone, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse, based on an adaptation by Emma Frost and a novel by Ruth Ware | 92 min | ▲1/2 | Netflix
There’s at least a couple of great Hollywood murder mysteries on the water — Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim’s The Last of Shiela, which was an influence on Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion, and Death On The Nile, the 1970s Peter Ustinov edition a whole lot more so than the Kenneth Branagh version. While The Woman in Cabin 10 won’t be troubling any list of great shipboard thrillers, it could make for a passable hour and a half for an undemanding Netflix chiller.
Keira Knightly is Laura “Lo” Blacklock, well-regarded journalist who’s invited on a massive luxury yacht to Norway to cover the launch of a foundation by a wealthy dude (Guy Pearce) for his terminally ill wife (Lisa Loven Kongsli). Amongst the toffee-nosed yacht guests are a number of respectable character thesps including Art Malik, Hannah Waddingham (rocking a plausible Aussie accent), Paul Kaye, and David Ajala (of Star Trek: Discovery fame, here playing a slight variation on his series character).
The mystery is compelling enough at the start — Lo sees a body go overboard one night from the titular cabin next to hers, but the rest of the guests and crew thinks she was dreaming or delusional when the full compliment of those onboard are accounted for. She finds what she thinks is evidence, but she doesn’t necessarily make a reasonable witness, despite her credentials, due to professional trauma in her recent past and a hint of frenzy in her eyes. Knightley is always a pro, even when the material doesn’t quite match up with her commitment to it — it’s the Michael Caine tradition of British acting.
Unfortunately, the reveal is of what’s actually going on is about as far away from the brilliant twists of Agatha Christie as you can get — this is dime store whodunit material, cheap and ridiculous, prompting otherwise reasonable characters to make stupid choices that’ll have you shaking your head. A finale where three women team up to take down the baddie brings the satisfaction that watching a bit of coordinated group violence can deliver, but maybe the only way to truly enjoy this silliness is dialling down your expectations to zero.
