Renowned mystery writer Harlan Thrombey is found dead in his attic study. It looks like he's died by his own hand? But is that really what happened? Gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc is hired by an unknown benefactor to investigate Harlan's death and finds that foul play has indeed been done. But who in the household would have murdered the old man? In traditional Agatha Christie style, more than one person had reason to want him dead. Blanc must utilise his skills to work out what really happened...
Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi) directs an all-star cast star- including Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, and Jamie Lee Curtis- in a fitfully funny, cleverly plotted mystery that will have audiences talking long after the credits finish.
When Johnson was editing the film, he tweeted out a series of movie posters which he was using as inspiration for Knives Out. These included the all-star Christie adaptations of the 1970s and 1980s (including Murder On The Orient Express, The Mirror Crack'd, and Death On The Nile) as well as comedy murder mysteries (Clue and Murder By Death) and period thrillers (Gosford Park). You can feel those influences throughout - the all-star cast, the trail of clues, cross-examinations in large rooms, the old overstuffed house- but Johnson puts his own spin on these, and on the tried-and-tested tropes of the genre.
Performances are solid throughout. Daniel Craig affects a mellifluous Southern accent as gentleman detective Blanc, initially a taciturn presence with a mind as sharp as one of Harlan's many knives. He lays on the charm as he works through the case, ably assisted by two policemen: Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan). Elliott is a traditional by-the-numbers cop, trying to get answers against Blanc's occasional flights of fancy. Wagner provides comedy relief as a star-struck nerd who fanboys over Harlan's works. The three performances work together very well.
Jamie Lee Curtis is tough and forthright as eldest child Linda, married to a shifty sod named Richard (a delightfully unctuous performance by Don Johnson), whilst there are laughs to be had by Toni Collette as a slightly airheaded lifestyle-guru-cum-influencer (imagine Gwyneth Paltrow and her Goop enterprise and you're not far off). Michael Shannon gives a wounded air of melancholy as Harlan's son Walt, publisher of his father's works. Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell play members of the younger generation of Thrombeys but their characters aren't particularly fleshed out, being more "types" than people (more on that in a moment). Seen almost exclusively in flashback, Plummer makes for a warm yet strict character (in the sense that, once his mind is made up, it isn't being changed) and it's interesting to see his interactions with various family members.
Rounding off the cast nicely are Chris Evans as Harlan's playboy grandson Ransom (the polar opposite of Captain America), and Ana de Armas who plays Harlan's nurse Marta. Marta is recruited by Blanc to help with the investigation, as Marta has a rather unusual trait which Blanc describes as "a regurgitative reaction to mistruths". She is physically incapable of lying, because she vomits if she does. This comes into play a few times during the film, only once graphically, but it provides a darkly amusing counter to the cerebral workout that Blanc goes through to work out who the killer is.
As a murder mystery, it's well plotted - the dripfeed of information, misinformation, red herrings, half-truths and downright lies comes at a good pace, and there's a couple of times where the rug is pulled out from under you as what you've seen (or, more accurately, what you THINK you've seen) proves to not be the case. It's not convoluted, it doesn't disappear up its own fundament, doesn't rely on cheap tricks or obfuscation, and doesn't rely on a massive leap of logic to solve it. I was impressed by that. I also didn't work out the solution, but the solution presented didn't feel wrong. There are some clever moments that, on a repeated viewing (thus knowing the solution), will have greater significance.
One thing, however, that lets the film down for me slightly is the politics. Some sly bits of subtle commentary are interesting and work well (for instance, the Thrombeys claim Marta is "part of the family" but they don't seem to know which country her family's originally from: Cuba, Ecuador, and Paraguay are all mentioned) but some bits get a bit too on-the-nose. Langford's character Meg is described as attending a liberal arts college, so automatically gets called a "snowflake" at one point, whilst Martell's character Jacob is permanently attached for his phone and is described as an alt-right sympathiser and troll. All very pertinent in these polarised and divisive times. But on both of these cases, we're just told this rather than shown it. There's also a conversation between Richard and some of the others, re: Trump, which again feels a little unnecessary- Richard has already been shown to be an absolute raging douchebag so to drive that point home by having him espouse the usual Republican line about immigrants (and humiliating Marta into the bargain) felt a bit pointless to me.
That's a minor niggle, and not enough to ruin the film for me. It's a well-cast, beautiful-looking film (kudos to the production designer, the art designer, the set decoration and the costume designer) and the central mystery is engaging and expertly-constructed. A fine whodunit, and a late addition to my Nice List for 2019.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tez
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