Knives Out

If you're a fan of murder mysteries, things have been pretty slim at the box office.  Let's face it, we really haven't had a truly classic-style mystery film since 2017's adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.  And what was the last one before that?  Well, maybe the genre just needed a jolt of energy, and Rian Johnson's Knives Out is destined to be just that.  This is as entertaining, involving and wickedly funny as a film can be.

Johnson juggles a star-studded cast, a twisty plot, and a massive mansion set that one character in the film comments looks like the board from the game of Clue come to life, and manages to build a compelling "who done it" that not only leaves you guessing until the end, but constantly plays fair.  It's all too easy in this genre to pile on the red herrings and pull the rug out from under the audience, but with his clever script, Johnson proves his expertise with the genre.  He's not out just to fool us (though he certainly does that from time to time), but sets up the pieces so that we can put the pieces along with the film's detective hero, the wonderfully-named Benoit Blanc.  Detective Blanc is played by Daniel Craig in a performance that is filled with so much life, energy and humor, you can tell that Craig is having the time of his life with this character.  While he's best known for portraying James Bond these days, it's wonderful to see Craig cut loose with a Southern drawl and a slightly off-kilter edge.

The film starts out by giving us some of the expected trappings of the genre.  The action is mostly set in and around the sprawling Gothic mansion of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), an acclaimed mystery writer who recently invited his family over to celebrate his 85th birthday, only to turn up dead the next morning, his throat slit with the knife in his hand.  The police have ruled the death a suicide, but then Detective Blanc shows up.  He has been hired by some mysterious party that even he is not aware of.  But, he suspects foul play, and believes that every one who was at the birthday party the night before is a suspect.  And there's certainly more than enough suspicion to go around as we are introduced to Thrombey's dysfunctional family.

The family is played by a wide-range of talent, and demonstrates Johnson's skill at using a large cast to their best ability.  We first have the feuding couple of Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Richard (Don Johnson).  She's a venom-tongued control freak, and he's been fooling around with another woman behind her back.  Next up is Joni (Toni Collette), who was married to one of Thrombey's sons, until he passed away.  Now she's flat broke, and has a daughter in college.  There's the quiet Walt (Michael Shannon), who was running the publishing company that put out Thrombey's books.  He recently got into an argument about selling the rights to the books to Hollywood, something Thrombey had always refused to do, much to Walt's annoyance.  Finally, and most memorably, there is Linda and Richard's son, Ransom (Chris Evans), who is considered the "black sheep" of the family, and seems to take particular delight in seeing the family at each other's throats.

There was apparently a lot of arguing and anger during the party.  Talk of politics led to a lot of disgruntled guests, and over time, almost everyone had some kind of spat with old man Thrombey.  Now that he's dead, Detective Blanc thinks that everyone might be covering up for something.  However, Blanc thinks that there's someone in the house who might be able to help him greatly.  That would be Thrombey's personal nurse, Marta (the charming Ana de Armas), who was quite close with her patient, and spent a lot of time with him.  However, there is something unique about her that Blanc finds interesting - Namely, she cannot lie without throwing up.  It's a condition she's had ever since she was a child.  She can be of great use to him in sorting through everyone's stories, and learning the truth.

Knives Out gives everyone in its cast a moment to grab our attention, but if the movie belongs to anyone, it is to Craig and de Armas.  They share wonderful chemistry on screen, and it quickly becomes evident that de Armas is the MVP.  She is so sweet, disarming and likable that we are immediately drawn to her, just as Craig's character seems to be.  As the details of her relationship with the victim are uncovered, she manages to create a very heartfelt character who still gets to have moments of humor.  She is a relative unknown (her biggest Hollywood role has been in Blade Runner 2049), but this could lead to big things.  Not only that, she is to be seen with Craig again next year in the upcoming Bond entry, No Time to Die, so hopefully that film will lead to another memorable pairing.  And if there must be a stand out among Thrombey's shady family, that would go to Chris Evans, who seems to be relishing being as far from his Captain America image as possible here.

Not only is this a thriller that has been wonderfully planned out, but it even manages to end on a perfect final shot.  Obviously, I won't reveal it here.  Whatever you may have thought of Johnson's last picture, the highly divisive Star Wars entry, The Last Jedi, you owe it to yourself to sit down and savor this classic mystery.  This is a movie that's just as much fun to play along with as you sort through the clues as it is to watch.  I can see this leading to a resurgence in the mystery genre.  As long as they're as much fun and well thought out as this, I'm in.

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