Sharp Writing Helps ‘Knives Out’ Shine As One Of The Best Films Of 2019
Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Riki Lindhome, Frank Oz
PG-13
Comedy, Drama
Run time: 2 hr, 10 min
Directed by Rian Johnson
In theaters November 27, 2019
To say this is one of the movies I looked forward to most throughout the entirety of 2019 would be an understatement. It would take ages to list the enticing aspects of it, from its insanely star-studded ensemble cast to the whip-smart writing that was evident in the trailer. Sure, there was the, shall we say, questionable southern accent Daniel Craig was putting on for his investigator character. But just the minute and a half glimpse we first got into the movie was enough to have me excited for Knives Out for weeks leading up. And I was beyond thrilled to not be disappointed by Rian Johnson’s (writer and director) classic who-done-it caper.
It’s a modern Agatha Christie tale with a twist. A famed mystery writer (Christopher Plummer) is found dead the morning after his birthday party that was attended by his children and grandchildren. While it was originally ruled a suicide, more and more details come out to indicate that there could be more to this mystery than meets the eye. A private eye (Craig) is brought in to take a closer look at things and while details of the party come out, so do some of the skeletons in this (extremely wealthy) family’s closets.
At the risk of sounding obvious, one of the greatest things about this film is the performance of Chris Evans. After a decade of seeing him play the squeaky-clean, ideal human Captain America, watching him be allowed to cut loose and be a rich, entitled jerk of a character is worth the existence of the entire film. Evans revels in every swear, every smirk and every saunter - things he could never do while starring in a Marvel film. However, this raving should not come across as an insult to the rest of the cast, not by any means. They work together like a well-oiled machine, playing off each other’s every single line and facial expression with ease. These relationships seem more real, more lived in than some I’ve witnessed in real life and that is something that can not be discounted.
Knives Out takes a direction I wasn’t quite expecting, as the whole movie isn’t exactly the “who is the murder” type as I expected. Granted, you are trying to figure out just what happened that night, but Johnson turns the entire genre on its head in order to make this type of murder mystery just a little bit fresher and a hell of a lot more fun. This film is not necessarily one you can only view once, but rather see again and again in order to pick up different clues or hints you may have missed the previous viewing. And its Thanksgiving debut couldn’t be better. With the whole family together - and perhaps some tensions rising - a movie that everyone can enjoy (and a family dynamic that can put things in perspective) is something is not often found, and can be greatly appreciated.