A Gimmick That Overstays Its Welcome

PLOT: When Maya learns her father Sam was once a spy, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an international conspiracy.

REVIEW: Neil Burger has had an interesting career to this point but it’s been fairly hit or miss. From Divergent to Limitless to The Illusionist, he’s rather diverse. So it’s intriguing to see his latest outing be a more personal spy story. Inheritance follows Maya shortly after the death of her mother, with her father coming back into the picture and asking her to help him with a task. Little does Maya know that her father is actually a spy and she finds herself dealing with terrorist organizations and Interpol in her pursuit of the truth. Is her father who he says he is or is he using her for some kind of advantage? Phoebe Dynevor is in nearly every single scene of the film and she does a great job with a very internalized role. That’s not to say the part isn’t rather physical, as she’s traversing the world like any spy would. But it’s the emotional turmoil where the real crux of her character lies.

Rhys Ifans is great as the neglectful father, Sam, who has kept his mysterious past hidden from his daughter. He clearly hasn’t been the greatest parent and is almost swooping in at his best opportunity (aka the death of her mother). So he’s not exactly a great guy and Ifans does a great job of playing with expectations. I won’t lie, I got to be a little distracted by his accent though as it’s the stereotypical “British man voicing an American” that comes across a bit silly. It doesn’t help that he’s working across from Dynevor, whose accent is flawless. The dialogue can be a little on the nose at times, especially when characters are trying to expound about their past and make a point versus living and breathing in their world.

The name Inheritance is multifaceted, with many different meanings. The most obvious of which is the money that Maya would be set to inherit from her father. But the more interesting of which are the traits that Maya has inherited from him. She proves to be her father’s daughter with an intuitiveness and investigative nature that leads her to find unexpected truths. Despite a lack of training, she’s able to excel at the job and much of that has to be some traits of Sam passed onto her.

Neil Burger shoots Inheritance in a really interesting way. The camera feels like another character in the film, with its closeness to the characters and handheld approach. This more guerilla style filmmaking does mean there’s some imperfection to the cinematography but it works to the films advantage mostly. Though, I won’t lie, I was starting to get real sick of the wide angle lens and distorted perspective. I’m sure the argument can be made that it’s more immersive but I found myself wanting some cinematic normalcy. Shooting on an iPhone is a nice gimmick for a scene, but can be tiring for an entire film. And as great as Dynevor is, outside of Ifans, there are no other intriguing characters for her to play off of. She may as well be in a world of NPC’s.

An easy knock against Inheritance is how much the film is really just Maya walking around different streets around the world. Sure, she has a worried look on her face and is often being pursued, but the camerawork makes it feel very samey. We’re told there are massive stakes to what’s happening, but we hardly ever get to see any true action. Almost felt like what a student film would do to creatively get around showing major action beats. It’s easy to be impressed with how much of this was shot guerilla-style, just throwing the actors into the streets with real people. But that means there are random background actors looking directly into the lens and more of a physical presence for the camera, which took me out of the world a bit.

I really enjoyed both Phoebe and Rhys here but the story is so simple, it could have been done as a short film. While the narrative was intriguing at first, the more elements get piled on, the more absurd it gets. While the ending is satisfying on the surface, it feels sloppy once you think of the implications surrounding it. I really appreciated the filmmaking approach but feel it should have been saved for just a scene, versus an entire story. As is, Inheritance feels like a ton of transitional scenes, without the centerpiece to bring it all together.

INHERITANCE IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON JANUARY 24TH, 2024.