Sharpened Knives

Writer-director Rian Johnson has some eclectic films on his resume, but he's now best known for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. That experience set him up to do pretty much whatever he wanted next, and what he's chosen is the new, twisty whodunit Knives Out.

A wealthy author of murder mysteries is found dead of an apparent suicide, but enough oddities suggest a possible murder... and his greedy, weaselly family is full of suspects. We follow the case largely from the point of view of the victim's nurse (who holds secrets of her own) as she's drafted as a sort of Watson to work with the "Holmes" that is private detective Benoit Blanc. And that case continues to twist and turn through many reversals and revelations.

It's difficult to say much about Knives Out without spoiling its surprises. That said, there are many surprises -- more than once, the movie seems to give the game away, only to expose that "the game" isn't entirely the one you thought it was playing. It's rather like a classic Hitchcock tale, not as focused on the mystery to be solved as it is on the tension of whether people with something to hide will continue to succeed in hiding it. It's quite a clever film in this regard, hard to "figure out" entirely as there are too many disparate elements to figure them all out.

The trailer, if you've seen it, suggests a comedic movie -- perhaps a Clue for modern audiences. (There's even a reference to the board game, at one point.) That's a bit of a false veneer. There are plenty of light moments all throughout the story, but it's more a case of a good filmmaker wanting to break up tension with humor than it is trying to layer mystery into a comedy. Jokes are not the point of Knives Out, though it will likely make you laugh a few times.

Mostly, it's just meant to be a fun ride. And from the cast, it seems a lot of people were eager to be part of such a ride with Rian Johnson. Knives Out features Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, and more. Most of them have only one or two key scenes in which to really shine, but are happy to embody a loathsome personality throughout.

The two stars are Daniel Craig as detective Blanc, and Ana de Armas as the nurse Marta Cabrera. Craig is chewing the scenery with a deliberately preposterous southern accent, while de Armas is the focus for audience sympathy and (as the plot thickens) anxiety. No one's getting an Oscar nomination for this movie, but everyone seems to be having a hell of a lot of fun.

Knives Out isn't the sort of movie that demands you see it at the theater -- its spectacle is not that grand, nor is its quality that remarkable. But I did think it well worth seeing, and how much you fear having its twists spoiled for you may decide whether you should rush out to do so. I give the movie a B+. I've seen other movies this year that stir more emotion, but few that are as much simple fun.