Mackenzie Davis

In Speak No Evil (2024), Louise Dalton keeps allowing other people to talk her out of her own good judgement. Mackenzie Davis makes the hesitation convincing: Louise can sense the trouble, but objecting would mean making everyone uncomfortable. We were tense watching her give way to good manners, because Davis makes the mistake seem so easy to repeat. James Watkins’s film is worth seeing for this sort of unease, with modest expectations of the thriller it becomes.

The useful turn was from independent-film supporting parts to the lead role of Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire (2014–2017). Work in Black Mirror’s San Junipero (2016) and Station Eleven (2021–2022) kept television central. Her repeated casting in science fiction makes use of that intelligence and intensity. But the title role in Jason Reitman’s Tully (2018) also took her into intimate drama. We would be wary of treating genre casting as the full measure of what she can do.

Her Mariette in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is a supporting role in a film whose human focus belongs to Ryan Gosling. We recommend that patient, moving sequel, with a caveat about the long stretches that need a firmer cut. Davis’s place in its ensemble fits a recurring strength: she keeps people recognisable in high-concept stories. She need not be the centre of a film for that to matter.

Speak No Evil makes fuller use of that quality through her pairing with Scoot McNairy. His Ben has the apologetic stoop of someone for whom disagreeing takes too much effort, leaving Louise’s instincts to compete with his wish for an easy life. Davis makes her the person we want the others to listen to, without making her immune to the same social pressure. The limitation is the film’s: once the threat becomes more conventional, there is less interest in how these people tolerate one another. Start with their awkward visit, and do not expect the thriller to stay as perceptive as its leading woman.