Knives Out had me with the directness of its setup: a fancy manse; a rich, dysfunctional family; and a shocking murder in need of a solution. In walks Detective Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig), a master crime-solver with a résumé as thick as his southern accent. “I suspect foul play … I have eliminated no suspects,” he intones when asked why he’s there. The writer and director Rian Johnson, who assembled this project quickly after spending years in the franchise-filmmaking trenches with The Last Jedi, initially seems to be seeking out simplicity—a traditional drawing-room whodunit right out of Agatha Christie’s library. But the fun really begins when Knives Out starts flouting its genre’s rules.
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Knives Out is a charming and wonderfully crafted whodunnit that, despite the inevitable presence of a dead body, plays like a warm and cozy antidote to the winter chills.
- Knives Out is a self-aware, stylised farce that has a great time - and pulls you along with it. Full Review Original Score: 4.5/5 Alex Bentley CultureMap.
- ‘Knives Out’ Review: Whodunit? Someone Famous, Having a Blast Rian Johnson’s updated take on the classic genre is star-studded, twisty, and devilishly fun Lakeith Stanfield, Noah Segan, and Daniel.
- 1 day ago When it turned out that body cam footage showed that Bryant was shot while literally lunging with a giant knife toward another black teenager, the story obviously changed dramatically.
- Not one of the 39 reviews written by RT “top critics” designated “Knives Out,” which opens Wednesday, as rotten. And even when you look at all 231 reviews catalogued by the site, only a handful are.
That inventiveness shouldn’t be too surprising given Johnson’s career. Starting in 2005 with his breakout debut, Brick, a teenage noir homage, he’s been a filmmaker who draws from the classics but gives them sparkly new packages. Even The Last Jedi challenged the storytelling conventions of the long-winded Star Wars saga with humor and pique, rather than just reaffirming them (and stunned many a fan as a result). While Knives Out is a more straightforward proposition, a murder mystery that ties up every loose end, many of its best thrills come in the narrative hairpin turns Johnson makes along the way.
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The film keeps the crucial tropes of a Christie plot, namely ostentatious wealth, a cast of colorful characters with blaring personality disorders, and a cunning detective who lives only to crack the case before him. Yet it’s set in the present day, dispensing with the antiquated fortunes of Poirot’s usual suspects. Instead, Johnson conjures a coterie of modern, rich buffoons—all of them related to the successful crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who is found stabbed on the night of his 85th birthday.
Who could’ve done it? There’s Harlan’s daughter-in-law, Joni (Toni Collette), a self-styled lifestyle guru who dispenses quack medical advice that even Gwyneth Paltrow would wrinkle her nose at. His daughter, Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), is a real-estate mogul who constantly brags about being “self-made” despite receiving her father’s support. Harlan’s son, Walter (Michael Shannon), runs his dad’s publishing company, where his entire job seems to consist of printing and selling his father’s latest masterpiece. Even the grandkids, who include the handsome-jerk playboy Ransom (Chris Evans) and the taciturn alt-right-troll teenager Jacob (Jaeden Martell), are curdled in their own ways. Amid all the chaos and bickering, Marta (Ana de Armas), Harlan’s live-in nurse, gets patronizing head pats from the rest of the family but is otherwise largely ignored.
Detective Blanc is ostensibly the film’s hero and serves as the audience’s surrogate, interrogating family members and sniffing around for clues. But Marta is the heart of the movie—a character who might easily be dismissed as a stock supporting role, but whom Johnson plants in the foreground. There’s no subtlety to Johnson’s message: The film champions a hardworking daughter of immigrants in a film about upper-class snobs scrambling to secure their inherited wealth. This is 2019, and one of the villains is a pale teen boy who posts offensive invective on Twitter.
But the detective genre has never been subtle. It’s a world where the investigator is intelligence personified and the suspects (as well as the viewers) are his captive audience, waiting for the answers to be revealed after two hours of careful deduction. Through Marta and Detective Blanc, who become impromptu partners in search of the truth, Johnson is telling a story about what justice might look like in America today—while also having plenty of fun.
The film’s advertising has obscured almost every detail of the plot besides the absolute basics, a difficult achievement today. So I’ll say only that while Knives Out is a whodunit with a twist ending, it’s just as concerned with why and how the murder was done as it is with the killer’s identity; the seemingly huge pieces of information dropped early on turn out to be small pieces of the puzzle. The art of a cinematic murder mystery is to make the act of putting clues together seem suspenseful and worth watching. In the hands of Craig at his most gleeful, de Armas at her career best, and Johnson oozing love for the genre, Knives Out rises splendidly to the task.
| LABEL | Lionsgate |
| PG-Rating | PG-13 |
| RUN TIme | ca. 126 Minutes |
| IMAGE FORMAT | 1,85:1 (16:9 anamorph) |
| SOUNDFORMAT | DD 5.1 |
| LANGUAGE | Englisch |
| DIRECTOR | Rian Johnson |
| ACTORS | Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas, Katherine Langford, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer |
PLOT
When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death.
REVIEW
In Rian Johnson’s„Knives Out“, his latest feature post „Star Wars: The Last Jedi“, the director bringsClue to life in a whimsical whodunnit. Following the death of the family patriarch, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), an investigation begins into the cacophony of side characters who may – or may not – be involved in his sudden death. But with his death ruled as suicide and an ominous detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) appearing with an anonymous cash sum, „Knives Out“ promises to take you on a wild ride to delve into the truth of Thrombey’s mysterious death.
Overflowing with an all-star cast and enough twists to make a corkscrew jealous, „Knives Out“ is a cinematic delight worthy of digging your teeth into. Whether it be for the illustrious names that color the Thrombey party — such as Toni Collette’s free-spirited Joni or Jamie Lee Curtis’s hard-faced Linda — the jammy gags that litter the films, or a well-earned Hamilton reference, „Knives Out“ radiates fun on multiple levels and is a delightfully cheeky watch.
Taking the lead in „Knives Out“ is Craig’s Poirot-esque detective, Blanc, and Thrombey’s former nurse, Marta Carerra (Ana de Armas) who forms a Holmes and Watson team to investigate the foul play. The pair’s relationship is complex yet charming and guides you through the often-extravagant turns that Johnson has so carefully crafted. De Armas radiates emotional poise whilst Craig takes full advantage of his detective stance, taking the most advantage of the playful power of his position. Together, their scenes are well-crafted and brilliant — driving Johnson’s soon-to-be-classic to a powerfully complex and clever end.
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Though de Armas and Craig performances are excellent, there seems to be a fair bit of wasted opportunity with the wild array of characters that make up the Thrombey clan. There is definitely more to discover with Jaeden Martell’s Jacob Thrombey, a young right-wing “nazi” who rarely appears on the screen along with Katherine Langford’s Meg, seemingly the kindest of the Thrombey party. Even Marta — the arguable central figure of the film — lacks a sense of character beyond what we need to know. “Knives Out“ is certainly a victim to plot over character, but with a plot as fun as it is, it can almost be forgiven.
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Providing a setting for these devious antics is the Thrombey Mansion. Just as wildly fun as its characters, the house is a mystery writer’s dream (fitting that Harlan Thrombey is a renowned mystery writer himself) and does not fail to surprise. Filled with strange caricatures and dark passageways, it wreaks mystery in every crevice. Plus, with a knife-filled art installation that could rival the Iron Throne, Johnson and his crew have spared no expense in creating a space fit for intrigue, helping to propel the atmosphere of the film to a whole new level.
Knives Out Review National Review
As a film that relies on people craving the final moment, „Knives Out“ certainly does not disappoint. A subtle nod to the films opening and the ultimate outcome is hinted at the beginning, only to nicely wrap up the film in a circular narrative ending that gives Craig’s doughnut hole speech validation. This, however, is only a reward for the more eagle-eyed viewer, so make sure to pay attention and keep your mind well and truly open. Along with the eventual arrest of Thrombey’s killer, Johnson drives home a comically beautiful answer to the question everyone is desperate to find an answer to.
Knives Out Movie
Whether you stay for the illustrious performances given by the illustrious cast, Johnson’s witty twists, or Daniel Craig’s award-winning speech on doughnut holes, Knives Out will certainly be worth your time. And, if you manage to get doughnuts after the film, then do. It’ll totally be worth it. The crime thriller masterpiece “Knives Out” quickly comes across as a classic by Agathe Christie in perfect form. Everything simply runs smoothly here: from the complex story, to the detailed setting, to the well thought-out characters, who excellently combine a pleasant mix of crime thriller and comedy. Thus “Knives Out” surpasses even some classics like “Murder on the Orient Express”.