Recently, there was a murder mystery that took place pretty much entirely on a large boat, that of Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile (2022), an adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1937 novel. This film is also based on a novel, a 2016 novel by British author, Ruth Ware who has been compared to Christie. If this film is any indication, Ware is very far from Christie's abilities. Either that, or director and co-writer, Simon Stone has watered things down here and thinned it out to take out much that makes an Agatha Christie mystery or any murder mystery what it is. For example, typically a crime occurs in an isolated location. There are a series of suspects that get explored and whittled away. There are twists and turns, leading to a big reveal from whoever the detective or investigator is. Those things aren't exactly present here. The majority of this narrative rests on gaslighting the woman in the center of all of this.
Keira Knightley (Pride and Prejudice and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) stars as Laura Blacklock aka "Lo," a journalist for some publication in London, England. She recently has returned from an overseas trip where she was going to do an interview with a woman but that woman was killed. She is perhaps carrying the trauma or grief of that when she decides to accept an invitation for another job on board a large yacht called the "Aurora Borealis." The job is to interview a wealthy person named Anne Bullmer who has a terminal illness, some type of cancer, and the voyage is meant to commemorate the woman and celebrate her charitable work. While on board and out at sea, Lo believes that she has witnessed someone who was in the cabin next to her go overboard to their possible death. However, when Lo tells everyone about it, they all claim that there was no one staying in the cabin next to her. The rest of the film becomes a question of whether Lo is crazy or if she really did witness a death and possible murder.
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist and L.A. Confidential) co-stars as Richard Bullmer, the husband to Anne. He's only wealthy because he's married to Anne. Because Anne is sick and terminal, he basically has taken control of Anne's finances. He speaks for her on most occasions. When Lo starts to believe that a woman went overboard, he starts to argue that Lo is probably sick, namely mentally unwell. He's the one who brings up that Lo could still be suffering from the trauma or the grief that she experienced in her last journalistic assignment. Pearce's interpretation of the character isn't as abrasive and perhaps not as antisemitic, but his character here doesn't feel that far flung from his recent Oscar-nominated role in The Brutalist.
After Lo starts to rant about seeing a woman get killed, she starts to investigate to some degree. Unfortunately, this film doesn't really lay out much of an investigation. There are ten cabins on the yacht. Other than Lo's cabin and the cabin of the alleged victim, there are at least eight suspects, meaning the people staying in the eight other cabins. The crew of the yacht could potentially be suspects, but this feature doesn't really bother with them. If this were an Agatha Christie story or even a story on Law & Order (1990), Lo would methodically go through all eight of those suspects. Those suspects would be interrogated to one degree or another. We would get to know them and understand them more. Each would be either eliminated or implicated. That's not really the case here. Even if investigating each of those others doesn't make sense from a narrative perspective, the film should still allow us to get to know them, but Stone's film here doesn't do that.
David Ajala (Star Trek: Discovery and Supergirl) also co-stars as Ben Morgan, one of the passengers on the yacht who has his own cabin. He's the only exception. He's the ex-boyfriend of Lo who just happens to be on this boat because he's been employed by Richard to be the photographer of their celebration of Anne. He still cares about Lo, but he does take Richard's stance that Lo is making all of this up because of her trauma and grief. Again, he's the exception to the suspects. He's the only one with whom the film really spends much time. The other potential suspects are completely brushed over. There are some recognizable faces like Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), as well as David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), but there is simply not enough given of their characters to make us care or even interested in them at all. They don't even register. If Waddingham and Morrissey's characters are potential suspects, they should register at some point or matter at all. Yet, they don't.
Stone would probably argue that they're not supposed to matter. The true meat of the narrative comes from Lo's isolation and feeling adrift in this mystery, not getting any help and not feeling so self-reliant. She's certainly not like an Agatha Christie protagonist like a Hercules Poirot or Miss Marple. She's not as smart or as clever. In the end, she doesn't solve the mystery in that she puts together clues or makes logical conclusions based on what's happened. Literally, the film gets to a point where Lo is told the truth and what the solution is. Lo doesn't guess or reason anything. Usually, the protagonist is the one who figures it out and spills the beans. In this case, Lo doesn't figure out anything. Yes, she's the one who eventually tells the truth, but it's done in a very clunky way. I'd much rather watch an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
Rated R for violence and language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 35 mins.
Available on Netflix.