A Kind of Murder Reviews

Summary In 1960s New York, Walter Stackhouse is a successful architect married to the beautiful Clara who leads a seemingly perfect life. But his fascination with an unsolved murder leads him into a spiral of chaos as he is forced to play cat-and-mouse with a clever killer and an overambitious detective, while at the same time lusting after anot...

• Crime

• Drama

• Mystery

• Thriller

While thrills are mitigated by convoluted plotting and suspect character behavior, the film’s uniquely bleak twist on classic noir conventions is enlivening.

The film seems more interested in its art design then in fully developing the story's underlying sexual ethics.

The story was interesting, the cinematography was beautiful and the acting was good, but there were a few plot holes, it was predictable at times and it wasn't always believable. It's not the best thriller out there, but it's definitely worth the watch.

The mysteries surrounding double suspicious deaths! Promising cast, if not the Hollywood's greatest. Adapted to the screen from the book called 'The Blunderer'. The film is about the two separate deaths that's quite suspiciable of having some kind of a connection. That's where the cop's investigation comes into play. The narration was very suspense, since nothing was openly revealed at the beginning what really had happened, where the rest of the film rides on with. There are many angles to have a guess, but mostly it hangs either one or the other way, where you could come close to unpuzzle. A rich couple's marriage is falling apart. While the wife is not taking it well as her husband does. He's already starting to look forward to have an affair and move on. That's when he comes across a news about an unsolved murder, and soon his state of life sees the same fate. Now hunted by the law, how he tries to prove he's not involved in any kind of wrongdoing. That leads to a twist before bringing a full stop to the storytelling. I thought it was good, because it was different, engaging and mysterious, but not sure the presentation was at its best. It is what we call Hitchcock style mystery-thriller. If he'd been alive, I would have expected it to be from his direction. He knows that formula, how to carve such subject. This is from a television director and the quality of the film remained the same kind. Though the actors were good, as well as the atmosphere of the narration. It had a lot potential to be a better one, but still it can be watched once if you keep aside your complaints. 6/10

There’s too much that’s intriguing in this film to ignore it, and although the third act shows signs of strain, the first two acts more than justify the film’s existence.

The story remains an academic argument, struggling to pierce the handsome surface.

As its quickly stumbles through its crimes and clues, A Kind of Murder leaves you with the uneasy feeling that a promising mystery has simply been designed to death.

The fine cinematography, set design and costumes only serve as a distraction from the sparsely drawn story and uninteresting characters.

A handsome period piece that plays more like a scant-clues mystery than like the psychological thriller it intends to be, Andy Goddard's A Kind of Murder turns to the work of Patricia Highsmith but finds little of what made Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley such nail-biters.