Pray this gets stuck in probate.
If you’ve seen the trailer for Inheritance, then you’ve pretty much seen the actual movie itself. Apart from a final act twist which feels more like a desperate move rather than a natural end to the story, there’s nothing surprising within this new indie thriller to make it stand apart from the ever growing crop of titles now clamoring for space in the VOD spotlight. By all accounts, Inheritance should’ve been worthy of recognition and praise; the movie offers the promise of a tour-de-force performance from Simon Pegg and, as I said before, the film’s trailer is full of intrigue, dark twists and family secrets. But everything special about Inheritance remains in the trailer in terms of potential as its makers fail to take the plot beyond the premise in any way that improves upon it. In this day and age, audiences simply need and deserve more.
Directed by Vaughn Stein, Inheritance stars Lily Collins as Lauren, a New York City DA who hails from one of the state’s most prominent families. When her father Archer (Patrick Warburton) dies, he leaves most of his money to wife Catherine (Connie Nielsen) and son William (Chace Crawford), who is in the midst of a political campaign. Sensing the snub was a symbol of her and her father’s strained relationship, Lauren accepts this outcome until the family lawyer (Michael Beech) informs her that Archer has left an envelope specifically for her. Among the various items contained within, Lauren discovers a key that leads her to a secret underground bunker which houses a man named Morgan (Pegg) who claims to have spent the last three decades there as her father’s prisoner.
Inheritance is mainly a two-person show with Lauren and Morgan holding court as a pair of forces trying to stay ahead of each other. There is a commonality between them, however. Lauren is the girl who has lived under her father’s thumb with nothing but his judgment and disappointment driving her to succeed in spite of him. Likewise, Morgan has also lived under Archer’s torture, being physically held captive for decades by a man who appears to take pure joy in exacting the most cruel measures towards his prisoner. While this bond is acknowledged, it thankfully is never dwelled upon much longer than necessary. Because of this, the two lead characters and their scenes together play out as an intriguing cat and mouse game between them. While their respective roles in this game are clearly defined, both characters prove resourceful semi-adversaries that are interesting to watch, no matter where the plot takes them. The scenes between Lauren and Morgan are also interesting in the way they help Inheritance move along. While all of the scenes outside the underground bunker move at a workman-like pace, there’s a refreshing quality to the “no rush” feeling that comes from watching the two central characters play out their scenes, allowing the audience to get to know them and piece together who is really the cat and who is really the mouse.
Sadly however, Inheritance can’t just focus on Lauren and Morgan. It has to also include the world outside and the “people” that exist within it. It’s here where the film really shows its shortcomings as every piece of exposition and each bit of vital information which should be there to help keep us up to speed with what the situation is, and how it effects what’s going on down in the bunker, is sadly missing. Plot points are either glossed over or avoided entirely. This definitely true in regards to Archer. Never has a character so apparently crucial to the plot of a film been given so little care and attention. Seen mainly in brief flashbacks, the most noticeable element about Archer as a person is a fondness for scowling. The badly drawn portraits of people only add to the mountains of questions left unanswered throughout the film. What’s baffling is that Stein has a solid premise and setup with Inheritance; enough to craft a diverting tale of family secrets and the darkness of the human mind when pushed to the edge. Unfortunately, a film needs more than a great premise in order to exist, let alone function, which Inheritance sadly does not, leaving a collection of loose threads in the wake of its lost potential.
At least on a performance level, it’s difficult to find too much fault with Inheritance. Neilsen, Warburton, Beech and Crawford each show up to work and give exactly what they need to in order to try and help sell the movie’s believability. But the real work is in the hands of the two leads. Even though she is miscast, Collins still manages to give as credible performance as perhaps the youngest DA in New York’s history. But the actress carries her character’s troubled past and determination with her, injecting it into every move within her performance. Pegg however, one of the most interesting leading men working today, fails to match his co-star, getting so caught up in his character’s features and traits (especially the grey mop of stringy hair he’s wearing) that he forgets to make him an actual person.
Stein’s most noteworthy outing prior to Inheritance was the 2018 thriller Terminal starring Margot Robbie, in which Pegg likewise enjoyed a prominent role. Many felt that noir-ish film to be overly-stylized, a bit closed-off and lacking in any kind of substance, while others loved the banter exchanged between the figures on the screen. It appears that Stein has yet to learn his lesson as evidenced by Inheritance. Like its predecessor, this movie relies heavily on the interplay between characters in a world where they’re virtually the only people in existence; and while Stein does have a knack for those kinds of moments, such an ability is not enough to sustain a whole film. I’m confident Stein will get there. The filmmaker’s love of dialogue-driven scenes and set-ups which offer up mystery are apparent talents within him. I guess we’ll just have to wait a little longer for him to find out how to use them.
