This movie is based on a book by Ruth Ware. I read it and reviewed it here. In my opinion, this is one of her weaker books, and I wasn’t too enthused to watch the movie.
The movie, however, starring Keira Knightley, is not too bad. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. It has managed to ease past some of the weaknesses of the book and is overall quite watchable.
The Story
Laura Blacklock has returned to London traumatized from her last investigation, where a whistleblower was murdered after speaking to her.
Seeking stability, she accepts a seemingly lighter assignment: covering a philanthropic foundation launch hosted by Norwegian shipping heiress Anne Lingstad, who is battling stage 4 leukemia. Anne’s husband, Richard Bulmer, invites a select group of elite guests on the yacht Aurora Borealis, en route to a gala in Norway.
What seems like a nice, glossy press assignment ends up leading to a possible murder, gaslighting, and crazy hi-jinks.
My Review
I often find weakly plotted books make better movies. My expectations are lower, and some of the glaring issues in the book are usually set right in the movie. This was exactly what happened with The Woman in Cabin 10. The character Lo Blacklock is less annoying and unreliable in the film than in the book. Here, she is a well-respected journalist (and well played by Keira Knightley), and not so drunk and high-strung.
In the movie, the swift change from closed-room mystery to action-packed thrills in the countryside isn’t as jarring either. The movie moves swiftly, and even though the basic plot is as unbelievable as the book, it deftly moves past it without leaving you time to think – hey, this makes zero sense; why would x do so and so when the danger of exposure is so high?
The rest of the cast is also good – efficiently playing their parts. Guy Pearce as Richard Bulmer and Art Malik as Dr. Mehta in particular are standouts. The yacht is luxe. The blue-ish color grading throughout the movie is a stylistic choice that I don’t care for. But overall the movie scores over the book in all the ways that count.
This is a seriously slick movie. Where the book clumsily covers too many side plots and ends with too many loose ends, the movie efficiently removes all the extraneous fluff and sticks to the basic plot. This makes it a quick, easy watch – not a major hit, but one of those innocuous thriller movies to watch on a cold Friday night at home. Maybe forgetable, but pleasant and thrilling to watch in the moment.
