Writer & Director
Rian Johnson
(STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII – THE LAST JEDI, LOOPER, BRICK)

Starring
Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Edi Patterson and LaKeith Stanfield

I’ll start by getting straight to the point – KNIVES OUT is an instant classic addition to the mystery movie family. 

On the night of his 85th birthday, the family of well-known and highly-regarded crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) gathers at his luxury residence to celebrate the milestone occasion. The very next morning, Harlan is found dead by his housekeeper (Edi Patterson). Many members of Harlan’s dysfunctional and greedy family quite easily accept his unfortunate passing to be self-inflicted, but not Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who is certain there is much more to this case than they care for him to know! Adding further mystery to this case, Detective Blanc doesn’t know the identity of the person who hired him to investigate the death of Harlan Thrombey, which further supports his suspicions of foul play having occurred. Treating each family member and acquaintance as a prime suspect, Detective Blanc uncovers their every secret and untangles the layers of lies concealing the truth behind Harlan’s demise.

How KNIVES OUT broadens its scope for clues, culprits and causes surrounding its whodunnit mystery is a work of genius that simply needs to be seen in order to be fully comprehended. These intelligently conceived and impeccably executed facets of the film are major players in it being one of the best and most enjoyable films of 2019. Take for instance the editing during the initial stages of the investigation, which cleverly cuts from one character to another and could very well be utilised for upcoming twists. Then there are several flashback scenarios that toyed around with my trust in solving this mystery as often as they appeared. Throughout all of this, almost every character is given a clear motive for the possible murder of Harlan Thrombey, making the process of elimination impossible to achieve! By provoking me to question everything and everyone, KNIVES OUT even forced me to consider characters without an obvious motive to the same extent as those with one. See what I mean? Genius!

In a way, you could say that KNIVES OUT is a good old-fashioned murder mystery. But rest assured, aside from providing the same (if not higher) level of enjoyment as some of your favourite mystery classics, there is nothing old-fashioned about this very modern film. In particular, I loved how writer and director Rian Johnson has shrewdly incorporated and ridiculed certain observational facts and themes into his very complete script. This bona fide mystery movie is driven by its plotting and characters much more so than set-piece sequences and thrills. As a result, KNIVES OUT is inherently funny and hugely engrossing, whose very appealing ensemble cast each make memorable contributions that do not disappoint. Do not miss this one!

4 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
M (Mature themes and coarse language)

Trailer
KNIVES OUT

Moviedoc thanks Studiocanal for the invite to the screening of this film.

KNIVES OUT is released in cinemas throughout Australia from 28th of November, 2019.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
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