KNIVES OUT (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

knives out (2019) movie

Genre              |   Mystery Thriller

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   130 minutes

Released         |   28 November 2019

cast

Ana de Armas ... Marta Cabrera
Chris Evans ... Ransom Drysdale
Jamie Lee Curtis ... Linda Drysdale
Toni Collette ... Joni Thrombey
Daniel Craig ... Benoit Blanc
Don Johnson ... Richard Drysdale
Katherine Langford ... Meg Thrombey
LaKeith Stanfield ... Lt Elliott
Michael Shannon ... Walt Thrombey
Edi Patterson ... Fran
Christopher Plummer ... Harlan Thrombey
Jaeden Martell ... Jacob Thrombey
Riki Lindhome ... Donna Thrombey
Frank Oz ... Alan Stevens
​M. Emmet Walsh

director

​Rian Johnson

writer

Rian Johnson

cinematographer

​Steve Yedlin

music

​Nathan Johnson

film editor

Bob Ducsay ​

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box office result

Worldwide               $​309,232,797

Australia                 $​9,509,538

North America        $​165,363,234

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movie minutiae

​The name of Christopher Plummer's character, Harlan Thrombey, is oddly close and possibly an homage to the title of a popular 1980's 'Choose Your Own Adventure' book by Edward Packer entitled, "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?"

Michael Shannon and Chris Evans have appeared in comic book movies. Shannon played General Dru-Zod in MAN OF STEEL (2013) while Evans is best known as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This movie marks the second time Michael Shannon plays Jaeden Martell's father after MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2016).

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KNIVES OUT (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

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KNIVES OUT (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

Writer and director Rian Johnson pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in KNIVES OUT, a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect...

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.

From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death.

​With an all-star ensemble cast including Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell, KNIVES OUT is a witty and stylish whodunit guaranteed to keep audiences guessing until the very end.

KNIVES OUT (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 28 November 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

The contemporary “Whodunnit” feature film has, over numerous cinematic forays, attracted, what could-be-considered ALL STAR casts...

Peter Ustinov’s Hercule Poirot Agatha Christie outings of the late 1970s and early 1980s come immediately to mind… 

Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, Maggie Smith, George Kennedy, David Niven, Roddy McDowall and James Mason. These were the calibre of performers who populated DEATH ON THE NILE (1978) and EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982). 

Most recently, Kenneth Branagh brought together the likes of Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Penelope Cruz, Derek Jacobi, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Olivia Colman and Willem Dafoe in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (2017). 

KNIVES OUT may not have been written by Agatha Christie, but this murder mystery draws inspiration from the feature film adaptations of her work with a tale built around an all-star cast of suspects under investigation by a larger-than-life private investigator determined to fill the “hole in the doughnut”...

Until STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (2017) seemed rather bullet-proof. While his films were not huge Box Office hits, there was enough original thought in them to suggest Johnson was the pre-eminent hyphenate filmmaker of recent times; perhaps, rather ironically, with the exception of J.J. Abrams.

Johnson’s foray into a galaxy far, far away proved to be a double-edged sword.

THE LAST JEDI was seen by many as departing too far away from the elements that made Star Wars “STAR WARS” and Johnson paid the price for his interpretation in the court of public opinion.

Irrespective of opinion about Johnson’s THE LAST JEDI, KNIVES OUT goes a very long way to confirming the pre-STAR WARS belief in his ability was well placed.

KNIVES OUT tells the story about the last night of world-renowned murder mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who becomes the central figure in a story that he would have been proud to have turned into one of best-selling novels; had he remained alive to tell the tale…

On the night of his 85th birthday party, Thrombey decides to cut ties with his family, all of whom, in one way or another, have dined out on Harlan’s success all their lives. In some cases, such as his grandchildren, they have known no other way of life than to turn to their grandfather for support. The elder Thrombey has decided enough is enough.

The film’s opening scenes are set-up as a Rashomon style sequence; where the unreliability of various family member stories call into question not just the events of the night, but the very nature of the people dubiously recounting their actions to the investigating law enforcement officials.

To highlight just how questionable the Thrombey family are, no one is accused of a crime. Harlan’s death has been ruled as a suicide by the medical examiner. In spite of this, not one single member of the family can stop themselves from calling into question the motivation of their relatives.

Witness to the family’s self-destructive behaviour is Marta (Ana de Armas), Harlan’s private nurse who, over time, has also become his best friend and confidant. Through a series of flashbacks, Johnson reveals Harlan’s increasing frustration with his son Walt (Michael Shannon), his daughter’s husband Richard (Don Johnson), his daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) and grandson Ransom (Chris Evans). 

Marta is the only one who has even the slightest clue how disgruntled Harlan is with his family.

The only one he seems to have any time for is his daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), who, as it turns out, is also the only family member who has attempted to make something of her life outside of her father’s sphere of influence.

As Harlan’s party winds down, he retires to his third storey apartment for a  pain relief injection from Marta to help treat a shoulder injury he’d sustained a couple of weeks earlier.

At this point in the film, Johnson blows the traditional “Whodunnit” tropes away and delivers his own, unique take on the murder mystery genre…

Besides Marta, the film’s other central figure is Daniel Craig’s private investigator Benoit Blanc.

Every good murder mystery needs a cypher. As Blanc, Craig’s “Southern Fried Chicken” accent is, at times, a little wobbly, but, despite the authenticity of his twang, he delivers the film’s most memorable performance with his endless stream of pontification, circular-logic and oh-so-generic detective intuition. At one point, toward the end of the film, Marta tells him straight to his face that he’s not a very good private investigator…

That’s not to say he’s a buffoon, like Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. Blanc just keeps talking until, eventually, he talks himself into revealing the truth of the clues before him. There’s a vital scene late in the piece that shows that he is actually good at what he does, but it’s not some divine gift. Blanc has to work to get his results and he doesn’t always get it right the first time.

KNIVES OUT is a really impressive film.

The plot is well constructed and Johnson works against the genre’s tropes and audience expectation to make sure there’s no reliance upon cliche to deliver a satisfying story that has more than just a face-value denouement.

Johnson’s script delivers a great mix of melodrama, mystery and humour; utilising every single character in a manner that adds depth to his story.

Cinematographer Steve Yedlin, Johnson’s regular director of photography, returns to help lense and light the film, delivering an impressive array of shots that use both natural and artificial light sources to create the wintery, mist-shrouded Thrombey Mansion located somewhere in the north eastern US state of Massachusetts.

Best of all is the ensemble cast Johnson has assembled. The list of names is as equally impressive as those Kenneth Branagh assembled for MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. 

Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas have the lion-share of the screen time, but everyone gets their “moment”.

Don Johnson is memorable as the ineffective, somewhat neutered, husband to the Jamie Lee Curtis Linda character.

Jaeden Martell, most recently seen as the young Bill Denbrough in IT: CHAPTER TWO (2019), plays a small but very funny role as Jacob Thrombey, the Alt-Right Wing teenage son of Michael Shannon’s Walt. (This is the second time the pair have been father and son in a film. The first was the outstanding Science Fiction drama MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2016).)

Look out for Frank Oz (yes, the voice of Yoda & Miss Piggy and accomplished film director) in a small role as Thrombey family lawyer, Alan Stevens.

Right in the middle of all of this looms large the spectre of Harlan Thrombey. Christopher Plummer is a delight to watch in spite of the small amount of screen time he has. More than that, pay close attention to his dialogue. Johnson embeds Harlan’s few scenes with much of what is required to solve the mystery of who really killed him!

KNIVES OUT MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Knives Out (film) - Wikipedia
​Knives Out (2019) - IMDb
​Knives Out (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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