By Lark Anderson
December 11, 2019
Rated PG-13 / 130 minutes
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
CAUTION!!! MILD SPOILERS
I went into Knives Out, hoping it would be in the same vein as one of the BEST murder mysteries ever produced—Clue.
Clue…it is not, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, well-acted, and worthy of praise. It is directed by Rian Johnson, who also did The Last Jedi(which I HATED). Maybe murder mystery is more Rian’s calling?
If I had to compare it to any other movie, it would be Murder on the Orient Express based on a novel by Agatha Christie. (This is not due to how it ends as much as it is the way the story is told).
The movie begins with what appears to be an obvious suicide of Harlan Thrombey, and while I don’t want to go into HUGE spoiler territory, there is much more to this suicide than what meets the eye, and this is only discovered when Benoit Blanc(Daniel Craig) is anonymously hired to work the case.
The entire family is suspected of murder, and all appear to have motive. Benoit decides to investigate with the assistance of Harlan’s nurse, Marta(Ana de Armas)—who has her own motives to hide.
Look, I’m not going to spoil this for you. The movie is great, but it’s not worth seeing if you already know the killer and what happened. So you’re not getting any more of the plot out of me.
The Good:
The movie throughout is incredibly well acted. Don Johnson offers a standout performance, but Chris Evans is also unexpectedly good! I have never watched him outside of Avengers, and I didn’t expect to like his acting, but it was great.
The Bad:
The film relies on puking as a ‘human lie detector,’ and I just wish they had worked the truth telling angle differently.
Overall:
If you liked Murder on the Orient Express, you’ll like Knives Out as well. Now, stop looking up spoilers and go see it.
Lark Anderson - Author, Friend, Nerd... 