I CAME BY

Netflix, in recent years, have not had the best track record with their in house productions, with far more misses than hits. I Came By, however, on the basis of its trailer, looked like it had the potential to subvert this trend. It looked set to be a twisty thriller with some top British talent on screen, and a highly rated, international director off it.

Perhaps the most enticing thing about it, and the thing that intrigued me more than anything else, was in its lead. Hugh Bonneville, known mainly these days for playing warm fatherly figures, gets given a rare chance to play a bastard as Hector Blake, a retired judge with a dark secret.

It is fun to see Bonneville play against type, I just wish that we had been given a bit more of it. For the majority of the time he is on the screen he is wearing his mask, whereas he appears to be having much more fun in the off moments he is allowed to take it off.

There is a moment in particular where Blake snarls at a police officer, quickly dropping the facade, before recovering in front of potential witnesses. It is a shocking moment, one which really shows the true anger and violence of the man, but these moments are, unfortunately, few and far between.

Elsewhere in the cast we have George MacKay as one of the most unlikeable protagonists in recent cinema history. Toby is obnoxious and rude to those close to him in a way that, had he been playing a teenager, may have been believable. As a character in his mid-20’s, however, it’s just irritating.

Kelly Macdonald plays Toby’s downtrodden mum Lizzie, who as events unfold turns instigator. Macdonald is excellent here and portrays her quiet desperation with ease. Her more muted performance is a welcome contrast to MacKay’s activist caricature.

The performances by Bonneville and Macdonald will keep audiences engaged, however the main problem I Came By will face is in its story. It clearly has aspirations of Hitchcock levels of thrills, but falls short in most regards. There are a couple of surprises throughout but even these, while managing to be interesting, never manage to reach the levels of shocking.

Part of the problem for me is that we know the bones of the story right from the start. I Came By shows it’s hand very early, and therefore it is relatively easy to predict what is going to come. It is less that the reveals feel predictable and more that there are actually very few reveals to be made.

That’s not to say that there isn’t fun to be had, and there are some scenes that, in isolation, manage to be quite tense, but I Came By rarely allows this tension to build.

I Came By offers a couple of surprises within it’s otherwise formulaic story, but it’s performances manage to elevate it above your standard Netflix thriller.

A Hitchcock inspired thriller that never manages to stick the knife in, I Came By is a visit that manages to engage for a couple of hours, but is not one that you’re likely to remember.