The start of the holidays also means a deluge of straight-to-streaming films.
One of Netflix’s latest is “The Woman in Cabin 10,” an asinine and star-studded entry into the thriller genre. The movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel — far from it. Instead, viewers get the plot spoon-fed to them through cheap tropes and a disappointing ending.
The film centers on Laura “Lo” Blacklock (Keira Knightley), a journalist at the Guardian, who returns from a difficult assignment after witnessing the murder of a source. In an effort to decompress, she joins a luxury superyacht trip sponsored by billionaire Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce) and his dying wife, Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli), to celebrate their charitable foundation.
Also aboard are other colorful members of the out-of-touch elite — played by stars Hannah Waddingham and Kaya Scodelario, among others — and Blacklock’s ex-partner, Ben Morgan (David Ajala), who is also the photographer for the voyage.
What Blacklock expects to be easy coverage turns into a nightmare when she witnesses a woman thrown overboard and is forced to uncover the truth of the murder.
At first glance, the film promises compelling mystery and intrigue. Based on the eponymous novel by best-selling author Ruth Ware, “The Woman in Cabin 10” was not strapped for cash — the movie was filmed on the Savannah superyacht, which cost $1 million per week to rent.
In some ways, the film does deliver the glamour of a bourgeois thriller: Stunning visuals and sound effects combine to produce particularly tense moments. But this tension lacks invention. The plot is derivative and devoid of meaningful continuity — conflict and confusion between characters are resolved almost immediately. This is due partly to the fast-paced nature of the film, which clocks in at only one hour and 35 minutes long.
But what should’ve been a simple and low-effort watch still feels unnecessarily complicated. In “The Woman in Cabin 10,” too many factors militate against themselves and force viewers to reckon with the film’s mediocrity.
From the opening scene, it is clear that the film is bogged down by a laughably bad script. Awkward dialogue is a constant throughout the film, and because of this, pivotal moments lose their gravitas because of how stilted the characters’ conversations are.
Even the superb cast is unable to overcome the constraints of their terrible script. Oscar-nominated actress Keira Knightley has cemented her legacy through projects like “The Imitation Game” and “Pride & Prejudice.” But in “The Woman in Cabin 10,” the film’s bad writing reduces her to a caricature of a journalist. Not once on the superyacht does Blacklock write, interview or show any journalistic interest in any of her subjects. In fact, she consistently makes poor choices that undermine her status as a famed investigative journalist. For example, she chooses to place crucial evidence regarding the murder in her phone case, then decides to jump overboard. On “The Woman in Cabin 10,” the jokes write themselves.
This is a consistent theme throughout the film. The lack of development in any of the characters or their histories significantly lowers the stakes. It’s difficult to care about the potential romantic rekindling between Blacklock and Morgan, whose fate is meant to be impactful, but instead rings hollow because he spent much of the film being a nuisance.
It’s difficult to even wonder about the intricacies of the murder plot because none of the characters are given fleshed-out motivations for committing the crime. The mystery culminates in a juvenile reveal that forces viewers to contend with a pervading creative laziness as the credits roll.
This is not to say that “The Woman in Cabin 10” is completely devoid of successful elements. While Knightley fails to wow, Norwegian actress Kongsli delivers in the film’s most intense scenes. Waddingham also demands attention as Heidi Heatherley, one of the few standout characters in the film. Besides stunning visuals of British flora and a somewhat immersive use of sound, the film is a quintessentially mediocre Netflix original. With just the right amount of drama — and an equal amount of absurdity — “The Woman in Cabin 10” is a forgettable film that fails to leverage its talented cast or create any real emotional stakes for viewers.
Alyssia Ouhocine is a Senior Staff Writer covering Arts & Culture. Hailing from Bayonne, New Jersey, she is concentrating in English and History with a particular interest in Algerian history and literature. When she’s not writing, she can be found listening to music and sending Google Calendar invites.
