'Inheritance' Review: Phoebe Dynevor Is a Sardonic Spy Kid in Not-So-Thrilling, iPhone-Shot Thriller

Pulling off a good spy thriller is no easy feat. You’ve got to have strong intrigue, pulse-pounding action, and oftentimes a slick, slightly dangerous protagonist to root for as they try to save the world from destruction. Alas, sometimes a film lacks all three, such as with writer-director Neil Burger’s latest endeavor, Inheritance. This sleepy spy movie stars Phoebe Dynevor as a young woman thrown into the dangerous world of espionage when her estranged father and former spy (Rhys Ifans) comes back into her life. Boasting none of the genre’s expected excitement, Inheritance offers a slow-moving story rife with family secrets and Apple product placement that, while impressively shot entirely with an iPhone, will likely leave you reaching for yours in search of some better entertainment.

What Is 'Inheritance' About?

In Inheritance, Phoebe Dynevor plays the stony New Yorker Maya, who's grieving her mother’s death after spending a year as her devoted caretaker. When her absent father, Sam, waltzes back into her life promising great fortune should Maya join his line of work, Maya is whisked away on an unexpected journey with her long-lost father. However, when his real estate career is revealed to be a front, Maya learns that her father is actually a former spy with a questionable past and a very incriminating iPad. Equipped with a defiant attitude and kleptomaniacal tendencies, Maya gets far more than she bargained for when her father is taken hostage, and she must travel the globe to save him while evading capture herself.

Phoebe Dynevor and Rhys Ifans Give Sufficient, One-Note Performances in 'Inheritance'

Dynevor’s shown through various projects that she’s a talented actress, but Inheritance, and particularly her character, Maya, doesn't give the Bridgerton star very much to work with. Whether she’s numbed by grief or simply unwilling to show how she truly feels, earth-shattering revelations and mortal peril elicit little more than a furrowed brow from our heroine. Even when confronted with unbelievable betrayal, Maya breathes heavily and delivers biting lines in her signature deadpan voice (complete with a thick New York accent). Save from one scene where Maya breaks down in tears, Dynevor’s performance is largely one-note. She also rarely moves with urgency, so while this makes the few chase scenes all the more enthralling, it also lowers the already low stakes.

Likewise, Rhys Ifans gets the job done — just not in a way that's particularly exciting. He pulls off Sam's shady disposition well, but like Maya, even as an ex-spy in possession of top-secret military intelligence, the character just isn't very interesting. As far as how well the two leads work together, Maya and Sam understandably don't have any real father-daughter chemistry, and Dynevor and Ifans play this tense dynamic well. Nevertheless, when the crux of the film relies on Maya's desperation to save her dad, his mere existence as her only surviving parent isn't enough to make you feel all that invested when all we've seen of their relationship is a few photos on his iPad.

'Inheritance' Was Shot Entirely on an iPhone… and It Shows

By far, Inheritance's boldest creative choice was to shoot the entire movie using only an iPhone, and there are moments when this choice works strongly to the story's advantage. What the iPhone does particularly well is capture snapshots of the various cities Maya travels to. We see Cairo, Seoul, and Delhi through Maya's eyes, rather than the lofty view of a drone that we've come to expect in extravagant establishing shots. Shooting on location also gives the movie an authentic, exciting feel When Maya takes part in a high-speed motorcycle chase or runs through the streets of Delhi, we feel like we're running right alongside her. The intimate style of shooting brings us up close and personal with the characters, and it makes these action sequences feel more exciting. At the same time, the iPhone camerawork limits the scope of the stunning scenery and becomes a distraction rather than an asset. It also doesn't allow for much variety in these moments, and watching Phoebe Dynevor's face while she clings to the back of a motorcycle gets old pretty quickly.

If you're going to forgo sweeping landscapes and unique cinematography in favor of shooting with a smartphone, you'd better make sure that the characters and story are interesting enough to keep us fully interested. Unfortunately, much like its protagonists, Inheritance's story is, for the most part, flat and predictable. The screenplay by Neil Burger and Olen Steinhauer explores some interesting themes of familial obligation, but there isn't adequate time given to diving into them. The film's few twists also don't land, making for a deadened emotional impact, and a thriller that is majorly lacking in suspense.

As far as spy movies go, Inheritance certainly has potential, but never really lives up to it. The story manages to feel both sluggish and rushed at the same time, and watching Dynevor rifle through digital files on an iPad (while at one point also meeting her Apple fitness goal while running from the law) eventually makes the movie start to feel like an Apple commercial as much as a family drama slash spy escapade. While the unique shooting style and the talents of Dynevor and Ifans should have set the film up for success, the underdeveloped characters and underwhelming twists render Inheritance a tedious watch rather than a gripping espionage action flick.

Inheritance is in theaters now.

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