Part mystery, part suspense, part psychological thriller – “The Woman in Cabin 10” is a Netflix Original that wears several hats but doesn’t look completely comfortable in any of them. It’s a movie that starts off strong and sets itself up well. But it comes unglued in the second half, largely due to a ludicrous mid-movie twist which paves the way to an even crazier ending (and not the good kind of crazy).

“The Woman in Cabin 10” is based on a 2016 novel of the same name by Ruth Ware. It’s directed by Simon Stone whose previous film was 2021’s underrated “The Dig”. Working from a script he co-wrote with Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, Stone begins with a fairly intriguing premise that has plenty of room for mystery. But what could have been a taut, unnerving thriller suddenly devolves into a hokey mess of recycled clichés, implausible twists, and endless gaslighting.

Keira Knightley plays Laura “Lo” Blacklock, an award-winning journalist working for the popular British daily newspaper The Guardian. Having recently endured a poorly explained and barely explored traumatic experience, Laura’s boss (an underused Gugu Mbatha-Raw) wants her to take some time off. Instead, Laura chooses a new assignment that seems like a good mix of work and relaxation.

A wealthy Norwegian shipping heiress, Anne Lyngstad Bullmer (Lisa Loven Kongsli) has stage 4 leukemia and her husband Richard (Guy Pearce) is setting up a foundation in her name. Richard is treating Anne and the new foundation’s board members to a three-day cruise aboard their swanky luxury yacht, finishing the trip at a fundraising gala in a remote part of Norway. Richard, an admirer of Laura’s work, invites her to come along and cover it all in order to “raise awareness”. She eagerly agrees.

Most of the movie takes place on the billionaire’s extravagant ship, the Aurora Borealis. There Laura is introduced to a variety of characters from guests to staff to crew members, many who are meant to be possible suspects until they aren’t. Most of her time is spent with the special guests – a small group of snooty one-percenters that includes an obnoxious socialite (Daniel Ings), an alcoholic gallery owner (Hannah Waddingham), Anne’s personal doctor (Art Malik), and so on.

Besides Laura, the only other out-of-place guest is her photographer ex-boyfriend Ben (David Ajala) who’s there to shoot the event. Despite their history, Ben is a welcomed reprieve from the pampered people of privilege. But even his actions turn weird and unexplainable, all in an effort to add him to the suspect pool. And why do we have a suspect pool? Late one night, Laura wakes to a scream, a splash, and what looks like a woman’s body in the dark waters. Laura is convinced she saw what she saw. But with everyone accounted for, no one believes her.

Laura becomes a pariah onboard as the movie teases us with what she may or may not have seen. But the story takes an ill-advised turn at around the halfway mark. It’s ignited by a preposterous reveal that sees this potentially sleek and savvy genre-bender turn into trite, impossible to buy silliness. It ends up fumbling a good concept which leads to everything completely falling apart. Its clumsy and absurd finish only makes things worse.

Having two overqualified Academy Award nominees certainly looks nice on the credits. But neither Knightley or Pearce can push their characters through the deflating second-half where logic evaporates and predictability sets in. Thematically, the film teases an ‘eat the rich’ examination, but it falls by the wayside like so much else. It’s one of several backend frustrations that makes “The Woman in Cabin 10” fall well short of its Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock inspirations. “The Woman in Cabin 10” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 2 STARS