Film Review: Knives Out Is More Than a Stab in the Dark
To kill a career is the easiest form of murder. Just ask Rian Johnson, whose previous film ‘The Last Jedi’ nearly ended up being ‘The Last Rian Johnson Film’ after it was unreservedly rejected by die-hard fans. Luckily, his newest production, Knives Out, has sunk its blade sternly in the heart of audiences and critics alike, clipping the artery that rushes blood to the part of the brain that remembers ‘The Last Jedi’.
On the night of his 85th birthday, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a wealthy crime novelist, is found dead – a presumed suicide. The door was locked from the inside, and every member of the dysfunctional Thrombey family has an alibi. The inquisitive and mysterious detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) believes there’s more to this seemingly open and shut case.
Knives Out is a love letter to classic locked room mysteries. It’s full of red herrings, twists, turns and untrustworthy narrators. An inherent vice of crime writing is how watertight the story must be. Plot holes are their Achilles’ heel and every tiny action in the plot balances the mystery on a wire. You have to be extremely precise about who did what, where, when, and with which candlestick. With this in mind, it is very evident Johnson has been writing and planning Knives Out for eons. Everything that goes around comes around and the film closes like a good book with no pages unturned. Johnson’s screenplay is subversive, unexpected, and best of all, makes perfect sense.
The film is filled with fantastic characters brought to life by an incredible cast. Numerous A-listers such as Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) as the immovable matriarch, Daniel Craig (Skyfall) as the Southern Poirot, Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water) as the bumbling publisher, Chris Evans (Captain America) as the prodigal son, and Toni Collette (Hereditary) playing the zany step-daughter, all shine in their respective roles and are constantly stealing the scene from one and other. Some of the characters perhaps deserved to be fleshed out more. Michael Shannon is hysterical as the well-meaning yet dimwitted Walt, but I feel he gets far too little screen time.
Knives Out harkens back to a forgotten film genre with care and adoration. With such a fantastic cast and terrific writing and direction, Knives Out is far more than a stab in the dark. It’s thorough, meticulous and cleanly executed: the perfect crime.
4 / 5 clues discovered.
