Inheritance review: Phoebe Dynevor's nuanced performance saves this over-familiar and predictable spy thriller

Neil Burger’s Inheritance, is an espionage-thriller that's been making headlines for being shot on an iPhone. However, the biggest highlight of the film is Phoebe Dynevor's performance.

It’s the era of spy thrillers and we’re gladly living it. The drama, moments of tension, and the edge-of-seat action or chase sequences when executed properly offer the audience a thrilling escape and mint good figures at the platforms they are releasing. However, there comes a point of saturation where the audience feels exhausted at the repeated nature of the plotline, predictable twists, and over-familiar scenes. Neil Burger’s Inheritance which tells the story of Maya, a girl trapped in an international conspiracy is just another example of a film that promises a lot but fails to deliver.

An espionage-thriller, Inheritance is shot on an iPhone that maps the world from New York to Seoul and rests completely on the shoulders of Bridgerton fame Phoebe Dynevor, essaying Maya, a girl desirous of repairing her relationship with her father, Simon (Rhys Ifans) for which she undertakes a dangerous mission of procuring a high-stakes hard drive. Maya soon realizes that she has been trapped in a bigger conspiracy and things aren’t as simple as she was made to believe and how she navigates through it forms the rest of the story. The biggest attraction of Inheritance, besides the fact that it's filmed on location in Egypt, India, and South Korea, is that the movie has been shot in the Guerilla style using iPhone 13 Pro. 

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Watch the trailer here!

The film introduces Maya, a New Yorker who has just lost her mother to cancer. Her estranged father shows up at the funeral under the pretext of fixing their strained relations and despite her sister advising against it, a gullible Maya agrees to accompany Simon on his work trip to Cairo. Soon enough, she realizes why the family kept their distance from him and finds herself being used by Simon for his selfish motives. Maya is pulled into a complicated operation zipping continents with several agencies looking for her and Simon mysteriously disappearing adding to her miseries. 

Burger, who has co-written the script with Olen Steinhauer, fails to captivate the audience owing to the sheer predictability of the story. The screenplay isn’t complex or intriguing enough however, the clues Maya receives in every city inject a dash of excitement in the film. The guerrilla-style cinematography, with shaky, handheld shots and a wide-angle lens attempted to create an immersive experience, end up making the film look like a vlog. With just two main characters in a one and a half hour film, Inheritance is majorly driven by performances.

Dynevor's nuanced performance is what works for the movie, the way she transforms from a hopeless, depressed, and grief-stricken woman to a sharp one with strong survival instincts as she navigates chases, and uncovers truths, is the highlight of the film. Ifans also delivers a convincing performance as the shady parental figure who manipulates her vulnerable daughter for his profit. 

While the filming style has been used as the biggest marketing point of the film, what keeps you interested in Inheritance, is Dynevor's gritty performance that holds the film together. This is an espionage thriller that is undone by its writing and over-familiar troupes with its predictable yet satisfying climax proving to be a saving grace.  

Inheritance is now streaming on Lionsgate Play.