Just as the hype surrounding the trailer suggested, I Came By introduces audiences to a whole new side of Hugh Bonneville that’s about as far removed from the affable and kindly Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey and Paddington Bear’s Mr Brown as you can get.
Here we’ve swapped tea and crumpets for poison and secret basements, as it were.
However, making it all about Bonneville does a disservice to the tight script and stellar ensemble cast, including Kelly Macdonald, who also help deliver some decent thrills and spills in this timely film from Bafta-winner Babak Anvari.
I Came By sees two rebellious young graffiti artists (George MacKay and Percelle Ascott), who target the homes of London’s wealthy elite with their work, come into the orbit of retired High Court judge and known do-gooder Sir Hector Blake.
All is not quite as it first appears though, and when Jay (The Innocents and Tin Stars’s Ascott) discovers a dark secret about the prestigious and well-connected Sir Hector, it leads him on a shocking journey endangering himself and those closest to him.
Writer and director Anvari might have first had the inspiration for the film years ago while still studying, but the central theme of corruption within the establishment – driven in part by privilege – is as relevant now as it was then.
MacKay and Ascott fizz together onscreen as best friends whose bond is developed by closely-held beliefs but struggle when their paths in life diverge, with MacKay (1917, True History of the Kelly Gang) expertly channelling a lot of frustrated energy into the troubled Toby while Ascott’s effortless likability as Jay keeps the audience invested in him throughout.
Kelly Macdonald is reliably watchable and at ease in the role of Toby’s drained mother Lizzie, forced out of her red wine and reality TV slump and into sleuthing mode when menace comes knocking.
Messy, heartbroken and thoroughly human are the qualities in which she is rarely surpassed, and this role has them in heaps, even if it doesn’t always stretch quite far enough for a performer of her prowess.
The film juggles different lead characters as different points, allowing all a pretty juicy bite of its action-adventure apple. It’s also not afraid to make some bold decisions in its storytelling in order to ramp up the stakes and truly emphasise the evil at its core (it’s quite something when someone throwing an unread essay into the bin can make you gasp with rage).
However, I Came By is definitely elevated by Bonneville’s steely turn as Sir Hector, using his veneer of civility and harmlessness to trick and ensnare.
Basically, he’s pretty good at being really rather scary, coiling tightly as a spring and leaving the audience guessing as to how, when and where he’ll suddenly spring – and in more ways than one.
I Came By stumbles occasionally in a few of its finer plot points, as well as flagging slightly in a few run-of-the-mill scenes, but Anvari knows the value of a well-paced script kept comfortably under the two-hour mark.
Add that, his desire to bring a Hitchcockian thriller back to London and the calibre of his cast up – alongside Bonneville’s eager yet nervous fans – and it’s a film few should opt to miss when it comes by.
I Came By will be in select UK cinemas on August 19 and on Netflix from August 31.
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