Knives Out | Review
When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death. (Written by Lionsgate)
Upon seeing the trailer to this film, it had me intrigued. The cast, the plot, and the overarching story. There are only a few “Who-Dun-It” movies that come out every year and they all fall into the same genre/category, never bringing a new sense of style or something fresh to the table. But with “Knives Out”, I had hope that it would be great.
As I said, the cast is absolutely star-studded! Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Micael Shannon, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, the list goes on! Every actor and actress gave great performances that all brought great life to this mysterious tale and truly made the Thrombey Family real. Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc was the key highlight for me. He’s an incredible actor and every performance from him feels truly unique and this film shows that.
This film was also shot beautifully. Cinematographer Steve Yedlin brought a great sense of style and made this mystery driven story have a very distinct look that sets it apart from a lot of other murder mystery movies out there. The lighting choices were spot on and every frame was filled with great life (and death).
Something that I loved about his film was the costume and set design. I don’t say that about a lot of movies, but this film had a great way of making each character so distinct by their clothing choices that you knew exactly what kind of person they are just based on what they wore. The set design, the mansion in particular, had an immense amount of detail and it made the house feel very “lived-in” and that it had lots of history.
In some films I have something that I don’t particularly like, which mostly just comes down to personal preference, but I think that what I didn’t like has some reason to it. The humor. Now granted, the film had funny moments, but it was playing for laughs too many times. I think this comes down to my dislike towards the director Rian Johnson. He directed “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and I said that same thing about that film as well. Playing too much for a gag or a joke over advancing the story. Again, there were hilarious moments in this film, but a lot of the jokes were just overplayed.
So that’s “Knives Out”. I definitely enjoined it and had a great theater experience. It for sure did bring something new to the Murder Mystery genre! If you are interested in seeing it, I’d say go for it!
I’ll give Knives Out a 4/5.
