I Came By ★★★

ENGLISH actor Hugh Bonneville has had a comfortable acting career mostly playing stiff upper lip, generally inoffensive types.

The epitome of these has of course been his role as Robert Grantham in the Downton Abbey television series and two recent films.

I Came By gives him the chance to radically play against this type as a retired judge who may have some dark secrets.

The 2022 thriller is written, co-produced and directed by British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari who first sprung to the attention of critics with his debut feature Under the Shadow, a 2016 horror film that I am yet to see. Anvari’s second film, 2019’s Wounds with Armie Hammer, is interesting but uneven.

In I Came By, Bonneville’s character Henry Blake is targeted by a notorious, anonymous graffiti artist who takes his stand against authority by breaking into the homes of upper-class individuals and spray painting their walls.

George MacKay plays the graffiti artist, Toby, and Percelle Ascott is his accomplice Jay. We meet the pair before they know about the retired judge. They have just completed another raid and managed to escape the approaching police. Jay then tells Toby he needs to give up their activities and concentrate more on his pregnant girlfriend and staying out of prison.

Toby is livid at what he sees is a betrayal and decides to keep going on his own. He breaks into the retired judge’s home but comes across something completely unexpected that sends him on a life-threatening path. The always dependable Kelly MacDonald plays Toby’s mother who is also dragged into the web.

It’s probably not that hard to work out what’s going to happen, but there are still one or two twists that help create a decent amount of tension.

But the main reason for seeing I Came By is Bonneville’s performance. The less you know about his character in advance, the better your viewing experience will be.