Knives Out
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Runtime: 130 minutes
Mystery films used to be a dime a dozen; there would always be at least one playing at the local cinemas, but recently, that has died down. This genre slot has been taken over mostly by thrillers and tense real-world drama biopics, with your murder mysteries residing on Sunday afternoon television. Enter Knives Out, a film that harks back to the days of the eccentric detective and their attempt to unravel an unruly web of a mystery. Director Rian Johnson, fresh off the back of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, would like to throw his audience into the deep-end and get them thinking, ‘Who done it?’ but does he succeed or, as is an often occurrence, does the audience find their way through the web a bit to early, leaving them disappointed.
Disclaimer: I’m going to avoid talking spoilers here as this is a mystery film and any spoilers would just completely ruin the point of it. Knives Out tells the story of the wealthy Thrombey family after the apparent suicide of Harlan Thrombey, the patriarch of the family. Harlan (Christopher Plummer) was an incredibly rich and famous crime/mystery author so of course there was bound to be some sort of game afoot. There are a lot of moving parts in this film with the main cast eleven strong, and while the story itself focuses that down to the main players, it still doesn’t stop you from feeling a bit overwhelmed at times trying to keep track of exactly who everyone is and how they are related. While Daniel Craig is the titular ‘sleuth’ Benoit Blanc in this flick, unlike most mystery stories, we don’t follow him for the most part. Instead, our main character is Harlan’s nurse Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas). It’s an interesting change of story structure as the mystery weaves and changes throughout, instead of watching the detective unravel everything, he sits in more of a supportive role, almost waiting for the answers to fall delicately onto his lap. The acting in this film is good, but nothing really amazing; Armas does a great job portraying her character and Craig looks more comfortable here than he did in Spectre at the very least. The rest of the cast deliver solid performances whenever they are on screen, although Christopher Plummer shines in all his scenes, presenting a genuine gravitas and making his character feel exactly like he should. I must say I was expecting a little more from Chris Evans, playing grandson Ransom (yes, that’s his name). Evans seems to have defaulted back to a very similar character archetype that he was playing back before Captain America. It’s not bad, I was just expecting more.
The film can feel slightly sluggish at times and does include a vast array of flashbacks, these are mostly used to present and set up the story in the first act. The flashbacks are structured well with red herrings and differing accounts of events from different characters, all things you expect to find in a mystery. While I can’t think of anything that may have made the direction or cinematography really stand out aside from a nice intro sequence, the element of the film that flourishes is the set design. The film almost entirely takes place in the Thrombey family home, an old manor house that is designed and dressed perfectly for a mystery film of this type. I found myself getting lost at times trying to make out minute details and props set in the background. I can’t overstate how cool and interesting this house is, and how perfect it is for a mystery film.
Honestly, not to toot my own horn here, but I’m a pain in the ass when it comes to these types of films. Much like well… every audience member, I’m trying to figure out the twist from the very first second the film starts rolling and, usually, I get it reasonably quickly into the film. With this flick, by the end, I was only half correct, therefore the ending was satisfying enough. I don’t think audiences are going to be disappointed with the mystery being too easy or too complex. It was a weird feeling leaving the cinema because, usually, it’s all or nothing with these flicks. Instead of exclaiming, “Wow they got me!” or “Yes I got it,” I was stuck in an odd middle ground. Really, that’s how I feel about this film overall. There were some honestly great things about Knives Out; some excellently funny lines and callbacks coupled with set design to die for making this an enjoyable watch. However, almost everything else felt…good. I still think Knives Out is worth seeing, especially if you enjoy the genre, like the actors, or are just generally interested in the film. It’s weird for me to think I’m slightly disappointed in a film that’s a good watch, but I walked out of the cinema feeling like Knives Out could have been something more.
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