See How They Run

Directed by Tom George, See How They Run follows a pair of 1950s cops (Sam Rockwell’s Inspector Stoppard and Saoirse Ronan’s Constable Stalker) as they attempt to solve the murder of a brash director (Adrien Brody’s Leo Kopernick). Filmmaker George, working from a script by Mark Chappell, delivers a sporadically watchable yet mostly tedious murder mystery that could hardly be more generic and by the numbers, as the movie, which certainly feels a whole lot longer than its 98 minutes, has been suffused with a sluggish, overly talky atmosphere that prevents the viewer from embracing the narrative on a distressingly regular basis – with the arms-length feel compounded by an ongoing emphasis on a tedious, underwhelming central investigation. And although blah has elicited fun, engaging work from his various actors, with Rockwell’s turn as a grizzled detective undoubtedly a highlight, See How They Run progresses into a virtually inert midsection that contains hopelessly little in the way of forward momentum – which, in turn, prevents the third act’s revelations from packing the surprising (and satisfying) punch George has obviously intended. The end result is a disappointing misfire that generally feels like it could and should be so much better, and it is, in the end, impossible to label See How They Run as anything more than a forgettable showcase for several admittedly stirring performances.

** out of ****