REVIEW: ‘I Came By’ Looks Into The Darkest Parts of Privilege

I Came By is a Netflix Original thriller. In it, Toby Nealey is a graffiti artist who breaks into the home of the elite and leaves the tag “I Came By” decides to break into the home of former judge Hector Blake. But what he finds there will drag him and those he cares about most into a dark web of privilege, revenge, and torture.

Some movies are just good. Their production comes together in such a way that the movie is simply good, no matter what expectations or hopes you had for it at the start. Others have good, well-crafted aspects, but lack the all-around quality to please anyone who shows up. I Came By is one of the latter. If you show up looking for a tense thriller, you will be disappointed. If you come looking for an upsetting look at how privilege and connections can allow the powerful to literally get away with murder, strap in, cause this one is gonna hit.

The hardest element to talk about in this movie is its structure. The only character that feels firmly rooted in the narrative is Blake. With everyone else almost jockeying for their time, the movie never feels like it has a truly firm foundation from which to tell its story. This absence of a solid foundation is one of the biggest things that hurt the tale from a purely narrative perspective. What’s even harder on I Came By‘s plot is how passively characters are often dispatched during the story’s nearly two-hour runtime.

This somewhat disjointed plot comes together to bring an ending that firmly wraps up the story well but still fails to feel satisfying. Given my complaints with the plot overall, I’m not sure if any ending could’ve truly landed but this one certainly wasn’t it.

While it’s hard for me to fully commit to the narrative as a whole, I had no trouble getting into the story’s approach to the monster that is Hector Blake. Every element of how and why he manages to elude punishment for his actions is sickeningly real. The film does a great job of keeping the plot grounded, which leads it to be far more terrifying than if it opted to go over the top with its villain. Reality is far more terrifying than fiction these days.

Despite the movie’s inability to cement its cast within its narrative, I cannot complain about the actors as they deliver their roles for the time they have on screen. Much like the movie as a whole, I Came By‘s cast keeps their characters’ personalities solidly planted in reality. All of these characters feel like real people that could be met on any street.

I Came By delivers an uncomfortable look at just how far privilege and connections can protect a person, even as it fails to manage to bring its narrative together to form a truly cohesive and engaging story.

I Came By is streaming now on Netflix.