The Oxford Murders

I like puzzles. I like riddles. I'm not very good at them but I like them nonetheless. I like that mental challenge and agony you get when you can't solve a puzzle, like Lisa in 'Lisa The Simpson'. This film contains that very puzzle that stumps Lisa Simpson. In the wake of the Da Vinci Code, puzzle related who-dun-it's seem popular in trashy literature. They obviously already existed but that novel-cum-screenplay hit the big time, and became every charvas favourite book eva. This film is in a similar vein, an adaptation of a book centred around murders linked by a series of symbols, seemingly impossible to solve to the general public but palpable to the protagonists, who whilst cocky, shall be stumped.

The film itself is good. I like the story, it's also got boobs in it. To quote the film, 'Every enigma is obvious once you know the solution'. Once you get the 'who-dun-it', you say to yourself, gosh that is SO obvious, but this being a puzzle film, it goes a little deeper. There are needless romances in this film, and a character clearly adapted from the book that has little to do with the story but somehow manages to play a major role. There are hints of jealousy, vengeance and guilt, but they are never explored fully, as the film tries to steer away from a character piece and back towards a murder-mystery. It's clever in the end, it hits you and then you start to unravel that obvious answer you'd worked out earlier in the film, but it's not jaw-dropping enough to make an impact in the world of twist cinema.

There are some shockingly terrible films that have good twists, Secret Window being one of them, but this is the opposite, it's a good film with a weak twist. It's not worth buying unless you collect films about mathematical theorums, but even then they manage to get Fermat's name wrong. I'm convinced Habitacion de Fermat will be similar but better, an upcoming murder mystery film about Fermat's equation, but for now The Oxford Murders will do.