Dir: Tom George. Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson, David Oyelowo. 12A, 98 minutes.
Could the all-star whodunnit finally save us from the monotony of superheroes? That’s the tantalising promise embedded in See How They Run, which may feel as cynically constructed as any of Marvel’s corporate-minded affairs, but goes down as sweet and light as a fondant fancy. It’s an equal-parts concoction of Rian Johnson’s wry, self-aware Knives Out and the aristocratic romanticism of Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie adaptations. And if its ambitions towards broad likeability weren’t already obvious enough, the film’s caked in the Wes Anderson aesthetic – obsessive symmetry, bright palettes, French New Wave-inspired camera trickery. You also have to wonder whether the presence of two of his regulars – Saoirse Ronan and Adrien Brody – means they themselves weren’t wickedly deceived into signing their contracts. Are they aware this isn’t actually a follow-up to The French Dispatch?
