Knives Out! Review

OK. Can we talk about how my ass and America’s Ass sat in the same booth at a restaurant? The fact that it was a year apart has no never mind to do with it. You’re more concerned with what this has to do with Knives Out. Well, it just so happens this movie was filmed in and around the Worcester area of Massachusetts, and I’ve been to the tiny restaurant featured in the film. At the same booth.

Yeah, not really on point. I’ll move on.

Knives Out was in my ‘Must See’ list since the release of the first teaser. The cast list alone was enough to catch me hook, line, and sinker. Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Toni Colette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon. I could go on. Everyone played their parts and played them well. To boot, all of these actors came together to bring to life a whodunnit movie. I’m currently on a quest to read through Agatha Christie’s novels, so I apparently can’t get enough murder mystery. I was talking just yesterday to someone about this movie. They said, “Oh, is that the Clue-like movie?” I steered them away from that comparison. Nothing against Clue. The film or the game. Knives Out didn’t strike me as a close relative.

I’m going to say Rian Johnson is a Christie fan, as well. Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, could be Hercule Poirot’s Southern nephew. Order and method bring very much at the heart of the character. The story begins with Blanc in the shadows, staying on the edge of the action. Hmm. Blanc and shadows. I see what’s going on there. But, just like the petite Belgian, that didn’t last long. Mr. Blanc inserts himself into the action, pushing law enforcement to the margins of the story. His method lassos Marta, the caregiver played by Ana de Armas, and tags her as his reluctant Hastings.

There were elements of the ridiculous in the character of Benoit Blanc, and I’m not talking about just his name. This makes the comparison between Blanc and Hercule Poirot even tighter. Instead of heavily stylized and beloved mustaches, Blanc sports an exaggerated Southern accent and a fascination with a donut theory. In Knives Out, just as with Christie’s novels, the absurd is normal and extends beyond our master detective. The entire Thromby family is eccentric, to say the least. Harlan Thromby, the patriarch, played by Christopher Plummer, perhaps the most unconventional of them all.

His death is the catalyst for the polished veneer the family projects to peel off and expose their gross shortcomings and vices. And they are a group of really terrible people. Redemption isn’t a word in this movie’s vocabulary when it comes to the bulk of the Thromby clan. Each member, to one degree or another, is warped and twisted by Harlan’s money and, more importantly, the privilege that money provides. But they hardly think so. Through the initial interviews, the audience is treated to a snippet of the projected relationship each member wants to show investigators. The views we receive are hyperoptimistic and readily apparent lies.

So with all of the lies, who’s telling the truth? The game is afoot.

Knives Out wasn’t halfway done before I thought to myself, “I need to watch this again.” By the time the credits rolled, I had thought, “So, instead of another Bond movie…could we get a Benoit Blanc serial?” I know, I know. I just blasphemed to some folks. Spy movies are lovely, and I do love a good James Bond movie. However, when is the last time we’ve had a run of sleuth movies other than the latest attempt at Sherlock Holmes? Kenneth Branagh looks like he is going to make a run at Hercule Poirot, but that’s it. The TV procedural for a long time has had a monopoly on crime. Knives Out proves that the subgenre can absolutely succeed on the silver screen.

Definitely put this one on your list to go see. Fun and intriguing, you won’t be disappointed.