Stowaway - 2022 film review

There's more than one film called Stowaway, but this post is about the recent movie previously called, perhaps even more unimaginatively, The Yacht. Stowaway is a film that begins slowly, but improves and features moments of genuine tension. These aren't really enough to make it a great film, but it's perfectly watchable.

The film begins, in effect, with a few flashback scenes. As a child, Bella Denton (Ruby Rose) was devoted to her father, but he deserted her years ago, for reasons that aren't clear. She grew up into a wild child, but in the here and now a surprise awaits her. A chum of her Dad's tells her that she has inherited from him a very posh yacht called the Bella. 

She isn't allowed to stay on the yacht overnight, it seems, until certain mysterious legal technicalities are sorted out. But she does so anyway, in the company of a young guy she picks up in a bar. Unfortunately, while they are in bed, the Bella is hijacked by a couple of armed men, who have hired the captain of the boat for some nefarious purpose. 

All too soon, Bella finds herself trapped on the open sea with a pair of ruthless killers. Can she escape or get help before they find her? The cat and mouse scenes are pretty good, but I didn't warm to Bella as much as I should have done for maximum enjoyment. The script isn't terrible, but I did feel it could have been sharper and less uneven. It does baffle me why so many films which have some merit seem to skimp on the writing.