In honor of spooky season, Reading Raft’s Eli Heck and I decided to do a column crossover covering the book and film adaptation of “The Women in Cabin 10.” The freshly released film hit Netflix Oct. 10, instead of the big screen. That should have been a red flag for me coming into this yacht-centered whodunit style film.
In stark contrast to the above described book, director Simon Stone really dropped the ball on this one. From the lack of backstory, to the insanely fast paced nature of the film, right through its plot hole filled storyline that drastically differed from the book’s storyline, this film fell far from the ranks of my watch list.
It starred Keira Knightley, David Ajala, Guy Pearce, Gitte Witt and Lisa Loven Kongsli. As a long time fan of Knightley, and with a loose understanding of the premise of this film, I was initially so excited to see her acting skills come to life as the character of Laura. However, the plot was so lacking that it even made her acting feel clunky and out of place alongside her costars. It felt like she had so much emotion to give and entirely no story behind her to help elevate it or work cohesively alongside her talent.
The only positive note was that the chemistry between Knightley’s character and Ajala’s felt believable. Even then the two’s backstory felt haphazardously placed into this movie as a means to move the story along and give some sort of stakes, doing the work for the virtually nonexistent plot.
Speaking of the plot, this movie completely diverged from the book’s storyline. Erasing key elements that helped build the character of Laura. Such as her partner, her previous traumas and job experience, all pretty important characteristics in helping flesh out her as a likeable protagonist instead, were not given to this audience.
The book also offers a much more detailed and long journey on the yacht. The movie gives you only three days worth of story with zero suspense and does not follow the mystery the book so wonderfully reveals to the reader.
Because of this, the movie fell flat in its predictability, especially for advertising itself as being a whodunit-thriller. It took me all of 30 minutes to figure out who had committed the crime, not allowing for there to be any suspense or confusion for the viewer. Essentially the opposite experience the readers of this story received, feeling like they were just as lost and confused as Laura.
In contrast to the movie, Laura made choices that felt rushed and not really thought through, like they happened to keep the story going but without any rationalization, common sense or insight to her thought process. As a viewer, it made you fall out entirely with the believability of this story. Instead of yelling at my screen “don’t open that door!” I was shouting, “who is dumb enough to open that door?” Taking whatever thrill one might have found in this movie right out and replacing it with annoyance.
Lastly, the audience could tell this was a low budget film. Which is not entirely a bad thing at all when done correctly. However, for this film it was evident in the small details, like they were on a boat but outside the windows we never see the water moving. Or blatantly obvious continuity issues with luggage, wardrobe and movie magic. This left life-threatening situations unexplained that were resolved with zero effort but instead simply because the plot needed to continue forward.
Unfortunately, for me this movie falls into the lowest spice level receiving a 1 out of 5. A total skip. Instead, from the comfort of your couch at home you should switch off the TV and crack open the book. Keep an eye out for more future collaborations of the “Reading Raft” and “Hayley’s Hot Takes” and for next week’s review as I move into something a little more thrilling and scary