Knives Out (2019)

Knives Out, like all classic mysteries, is about misdirection. In the spirit of that this film isn't what it purports to be at all. It's not a murder mystery. The circumstances of the death is revealed early in the film and it becomes about something else entirely. I can't say what that is without spoiling the film. But the mystery here isn't whodunit. It is another mystery entirely.

I have often felt writer/director Rian Johnson can be a bit overrated but I do appreciate what he tries to do in his films, upending our expectations and challenging the tropes in movie genres. Sometimes I think he is more successful at than than other times. I think Knives Out is one of his more successful times.

His second take on the mystery genre (the first being the also impressive Brick) goes in a completely different direction than one would expect. It fits quite nicely into the mold it is breaking but upends it from the inside out. He does to the mystery genre some very similar to what he did with the sci fi blockbuster genre in The Last Jedi.

All the pieces of the classic mystery are there. He has his brilliant but eccentric detective, the dysfunctional rich family (every member of which has a motive), the twisted events of the night in question. And then he takes it all and does something different with it. Knives Out is most successful when it is doing the opposite of what this sort of story is supposed to be.

It is also so much fun because of the kind of cast which makes these sorts of films so much fun. Star studded, clearly all having the time of their lives, camping and hamming it up just enough to be fun but not overdoing it as to be silly. Johnson films his story in a similar fashion, adding just enough creativity and character without overdoing it beyond reason. It's a perfectly balanced fun time which surprises just enough. It is a smart crowdpleaser.

But it is also a critique of our current cultural reality. The story explores themes of immigration, wealth creation, and social hierarchies.  In this way it exposes our xenophobia and hypocrisy, so prevalent at this time in history. By centering his story around his lead character and tying the motives behind the crime to racial, gender, and cultural stratification he finds a way of embedding within his fun film a critique of American politics in the film's era. Knives Out once again defies what we think it is going to be.

Knives Out is clever and fun and entirely satisfying all while being subversive, but no so much as to spoil the fun.

Knives Out
Starring: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Jaeden Martell, Noah Segan, Frank Oz
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson