Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

When the lawyer brings the will out, the family brings their knives out.

The Synopsis
On the day after his 85th birthday celebration, wealth crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead in his study. What looks in every way like a suicide ends up turning into a full on murder investigation when Private Investigator, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is brought in to solve what appears to be an open and shut case.

With money come secrets and it seems the more Blanc and the police talk to the Thrombey family, patriarch Harlan left behind, the more there seems to be to the case. It’s a process of elimination to find out whodunit.

The family aren’t going to open up easily, so Blanc enlists the help of Marta (Ana de Armas), Harlan’s nurse and confidant, to help garner the truth – she’s a useful ally to have as Marta has a condition that mean’s she cannot lie.

The Good
What I liked most about this movie was the structure. We are so used to being told whodunit stories in specific ways – whether we know who killed the victim at the beginning as we are there, or we are on the hunt with the detective, staring up at suspect boards with mirrored hands on chins. The reveal of events for Knives Out was refreshing and kept my brain on alert for what was coming next as we were in uncharted territories for movie formulae.

I was in two minds about Marta’s inability to lie. I use the word ‘inability’ very lightly. This device did at first feel like a cheat, then it bordered on a strange comedy that felt out of place in the movie. Finally I began to enjoy it as another stake in the game of cat and mouse, most likely brought round by my like of the character herself.

For a seemingly simple movie, there were a lot of unexpected twists, turns, and mysteries within clues to decipher. It was played out really well and as I said, made for a very engaging watch.

The Bad
Admittedly there was a moment where the movie lagged ever so slightly – the downside of the way the story was structured is that you ended up feeling as though you were waiting for the movie to give you the next clue instead of figuring it out for yourself. It’s a bit of a hard one to explain unless you’ve seen Knives Out. If you’re like me and can’t switch your brain off during a movie then you’ll definitely notice – otherwise, you’ll probably have no idea what I’m even talking about!

The slue of well known actors as part of the cast really threw me for some reason. I know this is a really random thing to find fault in, but hear me out. In a way I kept expecting them all to do something magical, why else would Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Jaeden Martell etc – be chilling in the same movie that’s not even a six-degree ensemble cast rom-com?!

The Conclusion
A refreshing take on the detective mystery genre. It was twisted, fun and a little strange, but all in the best ways.