The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – On a lavish yacht for an assignment, a journalist sees a passenger go overboard. But when no one believes her, she risks her life to uncover the truth.

My Take – Ever since The Girl on the Train (2016) and Gone Girl (2014) adaptations found box office success, the modern mystery novel has evolved into something more nuanced than it was in the past. With the set-up of a whodunit full of suspects and a lone investigator trying to solve the case becoming quite the staple concept for many contemporary mystery adaptions.

Hence, it is unsurprising that studios finally turned their attention to popular newer author Ruth Ware, whose writing has been favorably compared to that of the legendary Agatha Christie, with most of her works being optioned for adaptations. And the first out of the gate is Netflix‘s feature adaption of her 2016 novel, The Woman in Cabin 10, which is also her most popular one yet.

However, despite the presence of a starry cast and an intriguing set-up, the end results are quite generic and underwhelming, far from the supposed mysterious and thrilling. Helmed by Simon Stone (The Dig), who co-wrote the adaptation with Joe Shrapnel (Snake Eyes) & Anna Waterhouse (Rebecca), the film is structured like the typical product the streaming giant keeps churning out and includes an ensemble who are surrounded by impressive production values but marred by a bland screenplay and middle-of-the-road thrills.

While the famously selective Keira Knightley is excellent in the lead role, and tries to elevate the material at every possible opportunity, in ways it most certainly needs, the film is mostly lifeless and monotonous, impressively making even murder seem boring. Even as the narrative escalates into an utterly preposterous final act, it’s only really her performance that holds the line, making it seem like she’s in a a far better film.

Sure, it’s far from an offensive watch, but it also doesn’t feel like the start of something special with this being the first Ware adaptation, particularly as it doesn’t capitalize on the elements that made the source material a bestseller and could have made the film a fun cinematic page-turner. Instead, leaving us with yet another bland, glossy, generic Netflix outing they’ve churned out over the past few years.

The story follows Laura “Lo” Blacklock (Keira Knightley), an acclaimed investigative journalist, who is still recovering from the trauma of witnessing the murder of an informant on her most recent story. While her editor Rowan (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) suggests she take a break, Laura decides to take up on an easier assignment instead.

Referring to a surprise invitation she received to chronicle the maiden charity voyage of an ultra-elite yacht owned by Lord Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce) and his ill wife Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli).

But, upon arrival Laura feels incredibly out of place amongst the other guests. A list that includes aristocrats Heidi (Hannah Waddingham) and her husband, Thomas Heatherly (David Morrissey), tech guru Lars Jensen (Christopher Rygh), influencer Grace (Kaya Scodelario), socialist Adam (Daniel Ings), rock star Danny Tyler (Paul Kaye), and Bullmer’s private physician Robert (Art Malik). And then there is also Ben (David Ajala), a photographer who also happens to be Laura’s ex.

However, the first night on board, she hears a disturbance in the room next door, and believes she saw someone being pushed overboard. Unfortunately for Laura, nobody believes her as the cabin next to her was assigned to be empty. But convinced of what she heard and saw, and Laura begins exploring the ship in search of answers and learning the secrets of the guests, as she seeks to uncover the truth. Indeed, the mystery about what happened is interesting and keeps us guessing.

Plus, the enclosed location helps create tension with the trapped environment behind the bigger mystery. However, the film sacrifices a lot of what makes stories like this so good. It doesn’t do enough to make the mystery feel edgy or keep the tone to draw you into the divide between the rogue’s gallery of billionaires and the lone reporter who wants the truth.

Usually, in films like this, the suspects are each looked into and past behaviors are brought to light that turn them into suspects or red herrings. But here we mostly spend time with Laura proclaiming that she saw something, and everyone else dismissing her. There are mild accusations thrown, but for the most part, the cast are just decoration to advance the story.

While the sheer silliness of the situation almost keeps things afloat, the cardboard quality of the drama makes things difficult. Particularly as Laura repeatedly finds herself in a situation where she ends up looking like a fool. It’s not a complaint you see too often, but the film should have been longer. There are a lot of good elements present here that just needed more time to be fleshed out.

Running for only 95 minutes, there was plenty of runway to add more depth to Lo and other characters, and to add some real meat to the story. Also, the mystery never really feels like a mystery as the big reveal comes far sooner than you would think. And once the twist is revealed the film deviates from the source material, towards something more familiar.

Performance wise, Keira Knightley is consistently a highlight, doing a terrific job conveying the maddening frustration Laura is going through. And whilst her duties feel considerably below her standing, she commits to the role admirably. Coming close enough to her is Guy Pearce who is quite believable as the slimy host.

Sadly, the rest of the cast that includes the likes of David Morrissey, Kaya Scodelario, Art Malik, David Ajala, Hannah Waddingham, Amanda Collin, Gitte Witt, Christopher Rygh, Daniel Ings, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Paul Kaye and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are given limited screen time to leave much of an impact. On the whole, ‘The Woman in Cabin 10‘ is yet another bland and generic thriller outing that we’ve come to expect from Netflix.