Knives Out: Entertaining Escapism

Rian Johnson has directed five movies (and three episodes of Breaking Bad, just FYI), but Knives Out may be the most important one, because Johnson has been getting flack ever since Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out. Johnson even designed a character based on the Star Wars fanboys who constantly trolled Johnson after The Last Jedi. It’s clear, however, that Johnson has talent, as both a writer and a director, after taking the helm of a whodunnit that stays one step ahead and keeps audiences completely entertained for the full two hours. Knives Out is the kind of movie that people actually go to the movies for – you enjoy yourself, you are engaged and invested, and best of all, you don’t already know how the story is going to end when you walk in.

The morning after his 85th birthday, crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his maze of an estate of an apparent suicide. On the day that his family gathers to hear his last will an testament read, the eccentric and famous detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) arrives at the mansion, called upon by an anonymous source to investigate Thrombey’s death. Someone does not believe that Thrombey’s death is as it appears, and Blanc has no shortage of suspects in the home – from the business-minded eldest daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her husband Richard (Don Johnson) to publisher son Walt (Michael Shannon); self-help-worshipper daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collete) to partying disappointment Ransom (Chris Evans). Even Thrombey’s devoted live-in assistant Marta (Ana de Armas) is hiding secrets about her relationship with the author. If Blanc is to solve the mystery of Thrombey’s death, he’ll have to dive deep into the tangled web of relationships that is the dysfunctional family.

You know going in that you are watching a whodunnit, and so you walk into this film expecting a twist. You get that, don’t get me wrong, but Johnson has also done his homework – he knows exactly what his audience expects, and he does not want them guessing the twist too early on. When you think you’ve got a handle on what is happening in the story, he throws in another few details that make you question it once more. The likelihood of you getting to the end of Knives Out and guessing every aspect of the story is unlikely, and the movie is all the better for it. You can guess maybe one or two things, but not enough to feel as though you can walk out of the theater and already know how the ending unfolds. The other interesting detail about Knives Out is how it manages to throw in social commentary, but in a way that does not feel like it’s being shoved down your throat, or even obvious. You could look at Get Out as its opposite – another great movie, but its commentary was very obvious, even from the trailers, so the people who that commentary was directed at could opt to not watch the movie at all, feeling called out. From the ever-shifting origin of Marta to the ending shot, the commentary slyly made its way into the story, without detracting from the mystery, and that is the mark of a good commentary. It is there in a way that you do hear it, but not so much that it takes away from the overall escapism that most audience members are coming for. You are learning, but also having fun.

The real power in this movie is the cast, because each and every one of them are charismatic, energetic, and enjoying themselves immensely. Movies are always better when you can tell that the cast is giving it their all, and that happens when they are enjoying what they do as much as you are. Craig is the obvious highlight; his exaggerated accent, dramatic personality and wild ego will cement him as a memorable character for years to come (for me, a better example of his talent than James Bond). The script gives every member of the Thrombey family a chance to showcase their own specific brand of crazy (the most regular of which is Marta’s closest friend Meg, played by Katherine Langford), and each of those brands of crazy keeps you entertained for the time they are onscreen. There is a point where they stop being the focus, which is a little sad, but when it boils down to just a few characters, you’ll still be having fun. Our surprising heroine Marta is played with both humor and empathy, though she never quite makes you forget about the other more wild characters. The other bright light of the script takes his time to come in, but owns his time: Evans’ Ransom. You will have a few moments with Ransom where you just can’t get over the fact that Chris Evans is wearing eyeshadow – and yes I know he’s an actor and they do that, but this was a level of eyeshadow where you couldn’t ignore it but it also wasn’t part of his character and it’s hilarious – but after that, you just enjoy his performance. It’s been clear for a long time that Evans is good at what he does (for examples, see Snowpiercer and Gifted), and now that his time as Captain America is over, he has the ability to branch out and have fun in his roles. I bought a ticket to this movie almost solely because I would get to see Captain America swearing, and I was not disappointed; I was just reminded of why I should be thinking of Chris Evans as more than Captain America.

If there is anything to dislike about this movie, it’s pretty minor. There is the fact that you should know this is a fun mystery film, nothing serious or necessarily tense – you are not going to be tightly wound during this movie. I’ve seen some complaints (not many, but some) where the writer expected this to be more like The Prestige, and if that’s what you walk in expecting, you might not enjoy yourself the way you thought you would. This is also one of the few movies where the use of vomit, while still kinda gross, is not so over-the-top and unnecessary that it takes me out of the moment. If you’re going to use vomit in your movie, you need to be smart about it, and thankfully Knives Out recognized that. At times, it could even be a little funny (which is honestly something I never thought I would say), but it does exist and that is something to be aware of if you have an issue with that sort of thing. But there are so many more details to enjoy than to hate – from the characters to the fact that I just want to play murder-mystery in that dream of an AirBNB house – that I think this movie should’ve been nominated for wayyyyy more Oscars than it was.

4.5 / 5

I’ve already seen chatter floating around about Rian Johnson being approached for a sequel to this. Between that and A Quiet Place II being announced, I’ve lost faith in good one-off movies, and that saddens me.