Review – Knives Out (2019)
Rian Johnson’s elevated whodunnit delivers on its promises
…and then some.
– Light spoilers ahead but nothing integral to the plot –
Rian Johnson is known for directing both intense sci-fi adventures and quirky mystery films. His latest film Knives Out, which he also produced and single-handedly wrote, is the latter.
The film centers around the Thrombey family, a rich, dysfunctional group of both blood relatives and those who have suckered on to said blood relatives. It follows the investigation by P.I. Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, that ensues immediately following the death of the family’s patriarch Harlen Thrombey, played by Christopher Plummer. The whodunnit mystery format is simply the jumping off point. The film drops the central question of who killed Harlen early on, which is obviously unusual for the genre, and goes above and beyond its premise to spin a story about guilt, inheritance, and an utterly clueless family.
The film is twisty, turny, and fun. It might not have moved at the breakneck pace I was expecting, but the experience was certainly a wild ride regardless. It will keep your attention from start to finish, and there is surprisingly a lot of heart to it as well. It is character-driven and has the substance to back up the spectacle. Johnson’s vision was executed to near perfection.
This movie is quite brilliant in a larger societal sense because, while marketed as a murder mystery about a wealthy white family with Detective Craig at its core, the driving story of the movie is quite different. There is of course what Johnson set out to do, which was to flip the whodunnit model on its head, but there is also what he did with one character in particular. Ana de Armas’s character, Harlen’s nurse and caretaker Marta, is unexpectedly thrust into the leading role. The narrative relevance will of course become clear once you see the movie, but more importantly, Johnson chose to have a woman of color, playing an immigrant, become the lead in a film whose genre is anything but “woke.” The whodunnit mystery thrives on glitzy settings and white drama. Even the film’s trailer relegates de Armas primarily to the background. That is perhaps the greatest artistic choice out of all of them that Johnson made on this project. There’s much more to Knives Out than what the trailer shows.
I must also not forget to mention the comedic aspect of the film. Between Johnson’s always sharp writing and the character work involved, it is really a comedy film wrapped in a mystery. Every actor was cast to perfection, no matter how little screen time each one received. I went in excited to see Jamie Lee Curtis act hysterical and see Chris Evans act like an asshole. And of course I could watch two straight hours of just Toni Collette’s character talking about skincare. However, Christopher Plummer especially offers such an endearing, funny, and genuine performance despite appearing in only relatively brief flashbacks. In contrast, Ana de Armas ends up helming the movie with exceptional humility and a quiet ferocity. Plummer and de Armas are the heart of the story, with a little Daniel Craig thrown in, and the rest of them just become unimportant background noise by the end of the film.
The only gripe I have about the movie is that it doesn’t take things too “far.” I hate to use a cliché, but the “envelope” in many ways was not “pushed.” Maybe I expected too much from a PG-13 movie, but the film definitely felt a little bit metered. While still quite an improvement over Johnson’s past, non-sci-fi films, it lacked some of the shocking qualities that made his past movies so exciting. There were not many gasp-worthy moments to speak of, except possibly the knife bit at the end. The Brothers Bloom, for example, while slower and sparser, had twists and turns around every corner, whereas Knives Out seemed to do a bit more foreshadowing and fan service.
The movie as a whole felt rather safe, but the cast was particularly underutilized. Again, maybe I was expecting too much, but with powerhouses like Curtis, Collette, and Craig, I was left wanting. Curtis got the chance to lose her s*** once, but that’s simply not enough. As I wrote above, all the performances were incredible, even comedic actresses Edi Patterson and Riki Lindhome shined despite having barely any dialogue, but it was obvious the actors were not very challenged in their roles. Despite how entertaining it was, many of the characters were too cartoony to feel sympathy towards. The central problem might just be that not enough time was spent with the family. I applaud Johnson for positioning a Latinx character as the true lead of the film, but one of the movie’s biggest draws, especially in its viral marketing, was the opportunity to see this maladjusted white family go at it (and possibly even stab each other in the process).
The film, however, is wholly successful. Between the writing, direction, cast performances, impeccable setting, and properly dramatic cinematography from Steve Yedlin, it cannot be missed. I believe Rian Johnson accomplished exactly what he set out to do and gave us something we’ll be talking about for years to come.
Overall, Knives Out doesn’t push its stellar cast or premise as hard as it could have, but Rian Johnson succeeds in creating a smart, meta, and timely whodunnit mystery film for the new generation.