With a surfeit of pretentious, over-produced and downright boring movies to signal this as one of the worst holiday seasons ever, many people crave a good old-fashioned murder mystery modeled after one of those intricately plotted page turners by Agatha Christie. Like me, they want a perfect head-scratcher, like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Knives Out, from writer-director Rian Johnson (Star Wars:The Last Jedi), is not it, but as a spoof of Christie, it has a few giggles that in the final 15 minutes turn into guffaws.
SEE ALSO: ‘Waves’ Is a Demanding and Absorbing Family Drama
That comment is not meant as a negative. Intentional or not, this alleged thriller is more of a comedy, and maybe I’m just jaded, but to me, there isn’t a genuine thrill in sight. Still, I found it an enjoyable enough way to pass the time between clichés. The plot: Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a rich and famous crime novelist, is found the morning after his 85th birthday party, on the floor of his gloomy old country mansion with his throat slashed. The next two hours asks “whodunit”?KNIVES OUT ★★★ |
It could be any member of his creepy staff or dysfunctional family. Everyone has a motive and they’re all suspects, including the old man’s daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her greedy husband Richard (Don Johnson), their worthless playboy son Ransom (Chris Evans) who has been disinherited on the night of the murder as the black sheep of the family, son Walt (Michael Shannon) who has just been fired from running his father’s publishing company, daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) who has been discovered stealing $100,000 year from Harlan, her avaricious daughter Meg (Katherine Langford), and, most important of all, Harlan’s devoted private nurse and personal confidante Marta (Ana de Armas), a Guatemalan immigrant and the only person in the house who supposedly had nothing to gain from his demise.
One by one, their lies, secrets, crimes and misdemeanors are discovered by Benoit Blanc, “the last of the gentleman detectives,” played by a miscast Daniel Craig with a cornball Southern accent that sounds like a mouth full of fried grits.
In a concerted effort to keep the final reveal a secret, Johnson asks the audience in a filmed prologue not to become whistleblowers—an unnecessary request, to be sure, since Knives Out is so crammed full of plot twists, blackmail notes, toxicology reports and red herrings that you couldn’t explain what happens at gunpoint.
Amazon.com: Knives Out Blu-ray 2019: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield. Amazon.com: Knives Out 4K UHD: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Rian Johnson: Movies & TV. Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Katherine Langford, Michael Shannon, Anna de Armas, Don Johnson, Jaeden Martell and Rian Johnson of 'Knives Out'.
Who hired Benoit Blanc, a cross between Hercule Poirot and Li’l Abner, anonymously? Who switched Harlan’s meds and filled his veins with morphine? I left asking more questions than the film ever answers, but it’s worth the effort when you get an occasional line of real wit like Craig’s description of a reading of the will as “a community theatre production of a tax return.”
Chris Evans and Daniel Craig starrer Knives Out will release on November 27 in the US.How often do we see our favourite superheroes and spies sharing screen space? Almost never is the answer. However, the recently released trailer of Knives Out suggests it has made the impossible possible by teaming up Captain America and James Bond together in a movie.
Yes, you read that right. Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, and a host of stars including Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Christopher Plummer feature in this thriller helmed by Rian Johnson.
The old father has died and nearly all the members of the family are suspects. Daniel Craig plays detective Benoit Blanc, while Chris evidently plays one of the spoilt and rude suspects.
In fact, towards the end of the trailer, we even see the characters of Evans and Craig interact, with Evans responding in the sassiest fashion ever. It is during this moment that Evans glances around the room full of cops and detectives and says coolly, “What is this, CSI KFC?” leaving Craig’s character confounded.
Daniel Craig Knives Out Cast
The official synopsis of the movie reads, “Acclaimed writer and director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Last Jedi) pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in Knives Out, a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) 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.”
Chris Evans Knives Out Sweater
Knives Out releases on November 27 in the US.