Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears product reviews

I grew up watching shows like "Murder She Wrote" and adaptations of Agatha Christie's Poirot stories, so when I saw this it immediately felt familiar and comfortable. That's a good start for a movie set in Old British Empire era and featuring a non-official detective as the key protagonist.

As the tale unfolded, it induced some little hints of other movies I have enjoyed, such as Romancing the Stone and even Raiders of the Lost Ark to some degree. All good things for me, so I was pretty confident I was going to enjoy it through to the end... if I could just keep the protagonist's name in my head! "Phryne" - pronounced "Fry-knee" is by far the oddest Anglo-Saxon name I have come across, though she hails from Australia, not England, apparently.

The story is interesting enough to keep the viewer engaged, despite a couple of slow patches where exposition is ramped up a smidge too far, sacrificing tension and plot progress, but there is a wonderful 'red herring' in the MacGuffin department that had me piecing together clues that turned out not to be clues, and jumping to the wrong conclusion. I was actually really quite pleased by that - it's a good tactic and made added a few points to the movie's score for me.

Overall, while the plot is quite formulaic - if you have read/watched any 'amateur detective' stories you'll recognise many of the common tropes - the acting was just cheesy enough to fit in without being so cheesy as to drive you away, and it's got enough 'pull' to keep you waiting to see what chaos 'Fry-knee' will create next. The flip of the standard Spy trope set down by Mr. 007 - in this case the shameless use of Appropriately-Restrained Feminine Wiles to provoke the male characters into complying with her wishes - was a nice twist. Angela Lansbury could never have pulled this off! I have no past experience with the books, so walking into this fresh from preconseived notions meant I could enjoy it at face-value rather than judge it in line with canon.

In many ways, I am thankful to Joss Whedon's Serenity. Not only was it an exceptionally evocative standalone sci-fi flick, but it introduced me to the very compelling world of Firefly. That series will always hold a special place in my heart, as do all of the actors involved. The main point I am trying to get across here is that I never would have actually watched the series if I had not decided to watch Serenity. To start watching an established series can be quite a commitment, so the shorter-form film is a brilliant way of introducing a new audience to the basics of the tone and chemistry within the series. This should have been the goal of Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears, instead, what we get is a sloppy serving of fan-service.

Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears is based on the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries television series, which itself is based on the series of Phryne Fisher novels written by Kerry Greenwood. The movie follows directly on from the end of the third series of the television show, which aired nearly four years ago. Bringing back members of the television series several years after the shows cessation and crowdfunding $250,000 of it's 8 million-dollar budget within 48 hours, and even offering those funding fans a chance to be extras in the film, there is no doubt that this film was focused on appealing to the nostalgic fans of the original show.

The end product is a very mediocre flick. In what was originally destined for a theatrical release, there are too many signs that corners were cut when it came to transitioning the format of the television show into a cinematic experience. The most noticeable aspects coming from the visual aesthetics of the film. This isn't shot in widescreen, and as such it's easy to not how the framing is more conducive to a television series. Exaggerated actions and mannerisms, flat lighting, and blurring of the backgrounds are all elements that point towards methods for cutting costs on television shows being incorporated into film format, at the expense of the overall product.

Without using a wider format and neither paying much attention to set design and props, the focus of the audience is drawn to the actors and the story. Neither of which impress. To be fair, Essie Davis really tries her best with what she is given in her role as Miss Phryne Fisher, and you can feel the effort that she is putting into her performance, but the weak script does her no favours. I haven't seen the original television series, but you would be shocked at the complete lack of charisma and chemistry between these characters that have been working together for so long. Shootings, chases, romantic arcs and deaths, all occur with very little signs of emotion.

There would have had to be a decision made early on, whether to provide backstory for our characters or simply carry on without context. The latter was chosen and all of sudden you have excluded a large number of potential viewers as they lose interest trying to figure out the relationships between a group of largely unlikable characters. The actors are then put into poorly choreographed action sequences with bland cinematography. They form long sequences that add very little to the story beyond stretching out the runtime. All topped off with a plot that has everything handed to our protagonists creating new challenges as soon as the last challenge was overcome, and ditching storylines for no reason at all; there is little to create intrigue.

There is nothing inherently bad about the film. It's entirely watchable, and many of the facets that are wasted on the big screen can be overlooked now that the COVID-19 pandemic has had this film moved from a theatrical release, direct to streaming. Despite the film containing some violent scenes, the tone of the film works well for a young audience, giving off that comical adventuring vibe or Indiana Jones and The Mummy with the glamour of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? and the quirkiness of Inspector Gadget. It's frivolous and fun, but ultimately Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears simply feels like a stretched out television episode, and become forgettable. If you are a huge fan of the original series already, or if you have some children to keep entertained during the lockdowns while you do some baking, this should certainly fit the bill.