On the morning after his 85th birthday, wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead in his study of an apparent suicide. As the family grieves, Detective Lieutenant Elliot (Lakeith Stanfield) and State Trooper Wagner (Noah Seegan) question the bereaved family members in order to confirm their initial suspicions. Then enters private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to investigate the possibility of foul play. With the entire Thrombey family as possible suspects, the game is afoot.
Knives Out director Rian Johnson stated a love for murder mysteries and it shows in this brilliantly complex but surprisingly straightforward whodunnit. There'll be no spoilers, but what I can say is that Johnson has crafted a puzzle so tightly written and meticulously put together it would make Agatha Christie proud. Johnson brings together an all-star ensemble cast putting on great performances all around, each player pulling off their characters with gusto and aplomb.
The setting of a lone mansion out in an isolated field is nothing new for the murder mystery genre. One could say it's almost expected, especially if the manor has secret passageways and hidden rooms. There's even the eccentric private investigator whom the police call in to be the actual sleuth while they run errands and do some legwork. And ontop of all of that is a multitude of red herrings, each having their own motives and alibis for the time of death. But, as is usually the case, things are not as they appear to be. No detail is too minute, from prop knives to cases of mistaken identity both real and supposed Clue is mentioned in a funny throwaway line and the game GO is a game that Harlan liked to play with his nurse Marta, played by Ana De Armas.
In the hands of a lesser creator, this could've been a mishmash of deceit, misdirection and fake outs. In my opinion, a good mystery is a story that gives the viewers everything they need to solve the mystery. It doesn't break its own rules or lie to the audience. It plays the game fair and square and lets you do the deducing and sleuthing alongside the gumshoe or protagonist. Here Rian Johnson plays around with the convention of the "gentleman sleuth" as Benoit Blanc's character is described as. Normally he'd be the focus, the character we spend the most time with. However, it's Ana De Armas's Marta on whom the film holds its focus. We go through her family life with her mother and sister as they live in a small apartment brownstone. We also see how she thinks on her feet and is able to outwit those who might do her harm.
Another way that this film differs from the usual detective story is that the initial mystery is revealed early on. This sort of lulls the viewer into thinking this won't be a "whodunnit" but a "how will they get away with it." I know; that phrasing isn't as quick or punchy. In any case, There was well set-up tension all throughout the film as to how this person would succeed when everything seems to go against their favor. Every time they seemed to be in the clear, a new complication would occur, like trying to get rid of evidence, only for one of the family dogs to retrieve it like a game of fetch.
The entire ensemble cast turned in great performances. Jamie Lee Curtis's Linda was a "keeping up appearances" uptight matriarch, Don Johnson were her doofus husband, Michael Shannon showed a slightly sinister side as the self-serving acting CEO of Harlan's publishing company. Toni Collette puts on her best "Karen" impersonation (the internet folks will get that) as Joni Thrombey, Harlan's daughter in law and a hippe-esque lifestyle guru. Joni and her daughter Meg, played by Katherine Langford, come off as the type of liberals who sound off on social injustices from the safety of their ivory towers but will turn as WASP-y as the rest of the clan if their livelihood is threatened. On the other side of the political spectrum, Jaeden Martell of the "IT" movies is given brief scenes as Walt's son Jacob, an avatar of online trolls, from whom Rian Johnson has experienced more than his fill of virtual vitriol. While Joni and Meg are shown as lacking the courage of their convictions, Jacob is outright mocked and made fun of. The Thrombeys are not nice people, except for maybe Harlan and his mother.
Chris Evans is something of a show-stealer in his scenes as the arrogant, spoiled-rotten grandson Hugh "Ransom" Thrombey. He carries himself with an egotistical swagger sporting a sharp tongue and even sharper mind, despite never having made anything of himself. But it's Chris Evans's charm and sincerity that lets you look past the brash, immature, vulgar exterior to see glimpses of a good person underneath the playboy lifestyle.
Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc is a true character right out of an Agatha Christie story. Delightfully eccentric, almost to the point of silliness but knows how to ask the right questions to get to the truth. When he finally hangs up the tux as Bond, Craig has another character he could easily turn into a franchise. Blanc is a throwback to Hercule Poirot in both method and inspiration. He didn't come off as a Holmesian type detective, or at least the ones that pass for it. Blanc isn't impossibly brilliant nor lacking in social skills or patience for courtesy. He was a gentleman sleuth through and through with a keen deductive mind. He never boasted about his brilliance like some geniuses in popular culture seem fond of doing, which was honestly refreshing.
Knives Out features a terrific ensemble cast, twists and turns that come right out of left field but don't insult the audience's intelligence, and some genuinely funny moments. I would definitely recommend everyone see this film as it is one of the best this year and I hope we get more like this from Rian Johnson, perhaps having Daniel Craig returning as Benoit Blanc to solve yet another oddball mystery of murder, intrigue and betrayal.
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