Knives Out is a new film from Rian Johnson about the mystery of a novelist’s death and the many motives of the people in his life. An inquisitive detective is anonymously hired to join the case which leads to a complex mystery full of secrets and comedy.
This is a spoiler-free review
Harlan Thrombey is a famous mystery novelist who is seemingly found to have committed suicide. But, an anonymous client has hired renowned detective Benoit Blanc to step in and really determine if this was truly a suicide. The investigation continues and family secrets and motives begin to reveal themselves. And at the center of it all is Harlan’s personal nurse Marta who has more involvement than everyone knows.
First things first, I am going to talk about Clue. If you don’t know, Clue is a film based on the board game of the same name and is my favorite movie of all time. And Knives Out definitely felt like an homage in a sense to that film and I love that. The style of comedy is very similar which makes me so happy. The opening shot even was an homage to Clue and I immediately was excited about that.
As I briefly mentioned, the comedy was something I really enjoyed. It is very witty humor that you can miss if you aren’t paying attention. I love that style of humor so that really made me love this movie. One piece I wish was not included was having the political side of it mainly with one of the grandsons. And I am mainly saying that because that grandson was ultimate pointless besides pushing the buttons of the other family members. The family was dysfunctional enough to not need further prodding via political discourse in my opinion.
The acting is fantastic! Every actor and actress did a wonderful job. And this film had quite the star power with Chris Evans as the black sheep grandson, Daniel Craig as our southern Poirot detective, Jamie Lee Curtis as the strong and business-minded daughter, and so on. Ana de Armas was wonderful as the nurse of Harlan Thormbey. The cast was perfect.
The mystery is pretty solid. I have seen many a mystery performed thanks to my brother’s interactive mystery company so I was attempting to solve the mystery to a point. This is not an easy mystery to solve, and I really enjoyed how the film made us think we already knew whodunnit but, if you were paying attention, you knew there was more to be solved. And everything is wrapped up nicely in an Agatha Christie worthy solution reveal.
Overall I definitely recommend this movie. It is intelligent, humourous, and very well done. The story is complex and thorough and done in a way where you don’t feel lost trying to follow the plot. I am really glad that I did decide to go and see it and I’m looking forward to getting to watch it again.
Have you seen Knives Out? Share your spoiler-free thoughts in the comments!
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