Written and Directed by Rian Johnson

Starring Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, LaKeith Standfield, Christopher Plummer

Knives Out is the kind of fun murder mystery I’ve missed seeing in theaters. Rian Johnson’s love of Agatha Christie and Hitchcock are plainly visible, but I think it’s neat he made a suspenseful tale with an all star cast in 2019 that I couldn’t guess the end to. It’s very self aware, and the story wraps on itself again and again (as all good movies like this should), and it pokes fun of itself constantly. Throw in some great performances and more than one major twist and you’ve got a great crowd pleaser. 

The movie opens eloquently, you’d almost think it took place in the times of Christie’s novels. The renowned crime mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead in his mansion by his housekeeper. His body lays comfortably on a sofa, blood strewn out from his slit throat. The housekeeper is startled, but doesn’t completely drop the tray of breakfast she has prepared for him. It wobbles but she catches most of it before it hits the floor. She says, “shit” too at this, neglecting the dead body. That should tell what kind of movie this is. 

An investigation begins. The whole extended family is called out to the mansion for questioning. Harlan’s death is being called a suicide, but the two cops (LaKeith Stanfield and Noah Segan) want to make sure of any foul play. The night before Harlan’s death was his 85th birthday, where the whole family had gathered. The night turned out great, or fine, or troublesome depending on who you ask. Johnson does a good job setting the framework for the mystery. We quickly see that all the family members are not so nice to each other, and their recaps of the night of the party reveal more than they want to let on. The movie shifts back and forth from subjective to objective views of what really happened. I suppose it’s a little strange that we are told most of the truth for a lot of these people relatively quickly. 

They’ve all got things to hide from the night. Harlan’s son in law Richard (Don Johnson), his son Walt (Michael Shannon), his daughter Joni (Toni Collette), and grandson Ransom (Chris Evans) all had bad final encounters with him. I won’t go into more detail but they’ve all got motives for his death. And as LaKeith and Segan question them, in the background quietly sits Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, timely pressing piano keys at reveals in the questioning. He’s out of focus, almost invisible at first, and finally the family members begin asking who the fuck he is.

The third detective yes, but not one sent by the police. He is there of his own accord, “at the behest of a client” he mentions, to solve this tangled case. He has a heavy southern accent, and speaks in silly syllogisms that will have you rolling. His deductive reasoning is sharp and funny, but not always on the mark. Sometimes he flips his coin.

And there is Marta (Ana de Armas), the star of the show, who was Harlan’s caretaker. The marketing did well to obscure that she is the main character. An immigrant who started as an outsider, but then bonded with Harlan to become one of the family. The chemistry between Plummer and Ana de Armas is so good that it makes all this work. There is genuine affection in their friendship, which makes a  pivotal scene deep in the movie hit so hard. It’s also why the rest of the family doesn’t like her. You can see where this is going. 

Marta has a condition where she vomits if she lies. The thought of being dishonest makes her physically ill. It sounds stupid but the movie makes it work, and Blanc uses it to his advantage. The cut away from her questioning to the real events of the night are magnificent storytelling, and is just another example of how Johnson is a great filmmaker, even if his movies end up uneven sometimes. He got far too much hate for The Last Jedi, and even though I have a love/hate relationship with that film, he did not deserve what the fandom did to him. 

I won’t go into much more detail as to not spoil anything, but there are plenty of twists and turns in the movie to keep you invested. It does drag a little much in the second half, but it’s okay because it leads to one of the best crowd pleasing moments I’ve seen all year. Knives Out is great fun, with a terrific cast playing along all the way. And Rian Johnson acknowledging how ludicrous his movie is all the while, with all his characters pointing it out.  And Daniel Craig giving one of his best performances as a quirky Sherlock downgrade who’s just so fun to watch. 

I enjoyed Knives Out a lot. I liked it’s funny take on a genre and movie we have seen so many times before, and giving it a newish spin. With a good final twist ending that isn’t predictable or impossible. I felt things, I panicked desperately in that pivotal scene. Johnson has put lots of political commentary in here as well, with Marta playing a huge role in an elitist American family, one of whom quotes Hamilton ignorantly. And two of the younger members yell back and forth at each other like SJW’s and alt right nazis. But I laughed at all of this and didn’t cringe once. But how it all plays out will give you Johnson’s two cents on the immigration issue. And suddenly it makes sense why Chris Evans showed up early to the will reading. And the final shot of the movie is so perfect I applauded. 

Knives Out has its issues, as I said it does drag on a bit too long with a twist and turn here and there that don’t seem necessary. And some of the characters do things that don’t quite make sense. But the movie wouldn’t work if they didn’t. And it’s all okay because it’s a lot of fun and ends wonderfully that we can forgive some of the slip ups along the way.