Knives Out enters Cineplex’s at the perfect time (Holiday Season) with a great director (Rian Johnson) and a great cast (Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.) in a throwback genre (whodunit) and still there’s a sense of underwhelming blandness when leaving the theatre that makes you say, “man, I wish I just stayed home and watched the newest Netflix release instead.”
The film revolves around Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), the wealthy mystery-novel writer, who is found dead the morning after his 85th birthday. The death is assumed to be a suicide, however, an anonymous note with a stack of cash is sent to the world-renowned sleuth, Detective Benolt Blanc to investigate the matter further… but why!?
I mean, would there be any motive for these trust fund kids and leeches known as relatives to have any reason to kill the patriarch of the family, who that night cut all of them off financially? Could one be so desperate as to want to kill him and continue to live off the teat of their magnate family member?
Yes of course there are motives, as Blanc discovers in his roundabout ways with his distinct southern drawl, however, nothing is really concrete, nor is the detectives resolve as he borders on brilliant and aloof throughout most of the film as he and his impromptu “Watson,” Thrombey’s young nurse and caretaker, Marta Cabrera (Ana De Armas) try to unravel this murder mystery.
Say what you will about Rian Johnson and his last film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but the man can direct. His previous turns at the helm were the Sci-fi masterpiece Looper, and award winning take on Breaking Bad in its second to last episode and not to mention the film that started his career, Brick, an early noir-thriller involving the death of a high-school teen, all of which were fantastic.
However, unlike Brick, Knives Out plays the whodunit route with more of an ironic, comedic take and yes it does have entertaining moments but with a cast stacked with a well-known actors as this (Chris Evans, Don Johnson) the film still stumbles and underwhelms.
There’s little to no action in this film so the course of interest is specifically related to dialogue and suspicion, which is represented as average at best, however, with numerous charming actors at the helm it does still manage to keep you engaged… somewhat.
Knives Out isn’t a bad film, it’s just one that you’ll forget about on the drive home from the theatres. Sure there’s some critique on the far left elitist place in the world, which is deserved in this film revolving around millionaires and mansions but there’s nothing that gives you that ‘ahh ha moment, or wow I really didn’t see that coming!?’
It’s just a slightly entertaining film released during the holiday season.
Vic's Flick Picks 