We live in interesting times, while that might be true, it is equally joyful for a fan of a good old fashioned thriller to sit and watch American filmmaker Rian Johnson’s multi-starrer Knives Out. Johnson’s previous credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Brother’s Bloom, Looper, and Brick. He wrote, co-produced, and directed the 2019 American murder mystery film.
It’s not a small feat to rope in a cast as talented as the one featured in the film. With A-list actors such as Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, and Toni Collette all actors seem to seamlessly fit into the plot. The murder of the house patriarch Harlan Thrombey played by veteran actor Christopher Plummer and the hunt to find the killer. Enter on cue, Daniel Craig’s private detective Benoit Blanc, a man with a thick southern drawl, reminiscent of the last of the gentleman detectives, a dying breed. Craig effortlessly brings Blanc to life, a man who is trying to piece a puzzle that has too many angles, but one main motive, money.
Johnson’s plot is tight-knit and not once wavers or meanders from the narrative. The constant flashbacks keep the audience engrossed till the end.
Knives Out contains characters that are a reflection of American society. Thrombey, a mystery novelist, a self-made man wants to instil the same traits in his family. After a night of birthday revelries, the next morning brings the news of a gruesome murder. The last person to see the author alive was Marta Cabrera his nurse and caretaker, played by Ana de Armas.
The topic of immigration and how Americans view migrant workers forms one of the underlying themes of the film. Johnson intricately weaves this into the plot. Marta is a legal immigrant living in the country, taking care of an elderly man much like the scores of immigrants do to just get by. She shares a close relationship with Thrombey.
The treatment meted out to her is evident from the time she steps foot into the house for questioning. The police classify her as the “help” while the family treats her condescendingly. The only two individuals who show her any modicum of respect are Thrombey and Detective Blanc.
An “outsider” who is suddenly thrust into the limelight Marta’s life is turned upside down by one fateful night.
Thrombey’s family is a motley crew of characters starting from his eldest daughter played by Curtis who owns a successful real estate business and her husband (Don Johnson) who is suave and handsome and also a racist at the drop off a hat. Their playboy, living off a trust-fund son Hugh Ransom Drysdale (Evans) embodies the privileged millennial. He bites back at everything, despises his own family, and scoffs at everyone. Collette plays the wife of Thrombey’s deceased son who lives off her father-in-law’s fortune and her daughter Meg’s (Katherine Langford) college tuition is also paid by him. Walter the youngest of the Thrombey children takes care of his father’s publishing house. His son the IT actor Jaeden Martell is a true Gen Z glued to his phone, and nobody pays much attention to the deceased author’s senile mother Nana Thrombey who provides a vital clue that solves the case.
Each family member despises the other and yet vies for the patriarch’s attention in order to stay in his good books.
Knives Out keeps the audiences guessing till the end, with each character making a desperate bid for the family fortune; no one is off the suspect list. It's refreshing to see Craig in a new role that might see him heading for another franchise; Evans sheds off his Captain America image and slips into a more haughty character; Armas’s portrayal of Marta a woman trying to make sense of the mayhem, is noteworthy, for which she received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
The film in its totality is entertaining and doesn’t disappoint. A murder mystery with subtle comic timing that is gripping and peppered with social commentary, Knives Out is a rare gem.
#ChrisEvans #MichaelShannon #JamieLeeCurtis #Whodunit #Film #ChristopherPlummer #CaptainAmerica #JaedenMartell #ToniCollette #DonJohnson
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