See How They Run is a new whodunnit set in the 1950s. The movie surrounds a murder that occurs during the production of a movie adaptation of the famous play, The Mousetrap.

Right from the start of See How They Run, the narrator essentially tells you what to expect from this movie. The narrator sort of plays down the movie as just another whodunnit, therefore, placing the standards very low. The movie certainly exceeds the expectations placed on it by the narrator, but this dialogue at the start of the movie does make it very clear what this movie is about. See How They Run is one of those movies that makes fun of other movies of the same genre. By doing this, the movie can get away with being overly cliche. And that's really all there is to this movie: a very cliche whodunnit. But that's not to say the movie isn't enjoyable.

A common trait in whodunnits is a very complex story that the audience finds hard to follow. See How They Run has a twisted story that makes the detective seem so much smarter for being able to figure out who committed the crime. What may have made this particularly confusing to me was that I hadn't seen the original The Mousetrap play. I gathered that See How They Run made many references to the play which would have been nice for those who had seen the play. However, these references weren't just small Easter Eggs, they were integral to the plot. So for audiences who hadn't seen the play, this would have made the already confusing story even more confusing.

What I don't understand about this movie is that despite the complex plot, the movie was still predictable. The audience was able to see what was going to happen just seconds before it did. I think that this is actually a testament to the creators. The creators captured the essence of a classic whodunnit by giving us a complex storyline but remaining cliche and predictable.

See How They Run isn't the best whodunnit I've seen. However, it can be pretty hard to go wrong with a genre as classic as this. The movie had its faults but it was a whodunnit nonetheless so was still enjoyable. See How They Run is light and funny and makes for an enjoyable movie night. I like to describe movies like See How They Run as a filler movie; like a filler episode in a tv show. The movie probably isn't going to be remembered in twenty years. However, the movie is a good placeholder; there's nothing inherently bad about the movie, but nothing stands out to me as fantastic in the movie either. But See How They Run isn't trying to be amazing. It wants to make fun of mediocre whodunnits, so, therefore, becomes a mediocre whodunnit itself.

Director: Tom George

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody

Year released: 2022

My rating: 7.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 27/11/2022