A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.
Rian Johnson has had good films and bad films. The 2012 film “Looper” was brilliantly done but “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was less than grand. It’s arguable though that both had a style about them that was intriguing and unmistakable. However, in those films, the style maybe only stuck out in a few scenes. Enter “Knives Out,” a whodunnit that completely revises the stagnant genre. Every scene in this film is stylized to be outrageous and bold. Every character has their own ticks that make them fan favorites or truly vile. This film is a headfirst dive into a game of Clue down to the last detail.
Let me set the scene, wealthy writer Harlan Thrombey, played by the wonderful Christopher Plummer, is found dead in his study after a family gathering. The local police rule it a suicide, an open and shut case but from the shadows, an eclectic and mysterious detective gives a theory, maybe it wasn’t suicide after all. Maybe, it was murder! Then begins the unraveling if the night’s events through questioning everyone who was there.
This mysterious detective, Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, is quite unlike any character the actor has played before. Blanc is flamboyant and inquisitive. His intensity is peppered with hilarity and the slightest sense of ignorance and it makes for a great ordeal to watch as he investigates the night that the death takes place. Craig is surrounded by outrageous characters played by actors who usually don’t inhabit the roles that they’ve taken on.
Jamie Lee Curtis plays a frazzled Linda Drysdale, the daughter to Harlan and the sole owner of a realty empire. Her character is the embodiment of a suburban mom created in fiction. She wears a mask of tolerance but the disdain for those around her who aren’t as fortunate is clear.
Michael Shannon plays a snake of a son who runs his father’s publishing empire whose only interest is for himself. He and the rest of the family put forth the niceties only when it suits them and after it gets them where they need to be they throw it away in place of anger and venom just as you’d expect from a film that has the feel of “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”
The movie is great fun and doesn’t work out quite as one would expect. The great reveal is placed near the middle of the film rather than the end but Rian Johnson seems to make it work well. I was worried that with a large plot point being upended so early in the film that the rest of the movie would lag behind but it worked quite the opposite. The fuel for this film never ran out. The whole way through its runtime you are there along for the ride, laughing the whole way.
In Theaters Wednesday, November 27th
