Knifes Out Movie Review

*mild spoilers ahead*

Knives out is a thrilling who dunnit mystery style film written and directed by Rian Johnson. This story follows the death of the family patriarch Harlan Thrombey. The death was unofficially ruled a suicide before the beginning of the film. Our main character is his nurse, Marta Cabrera who is a kind hearted young lady who befriended Harlan and who, without her knowledge, has been named the sole heir to Harlan’s fortune. This film takes many famous troupes from well-known mystery films that have come before it and succeeds in keeping the audience enthralled for the entire duration of the film. With many different twists it could be difficult to follow if you’re not paying attention but also enough that it will keep the attention of audience members on a repeat viewing. One of the most notable performances is undoubtedly Daniel Craig who plays the Detective Benoit Blanc. This performance in other actor’s hands could be perceived as goofy but Craig’s performance is the perfect balance of scenery chewing and depth. While the character appears to have genius levels of deduction it never appears to the audience that this mystery is too easily solvable. In one particular instance incredible story telling minor political themes are added in a conversation between Harlan’s children which unfortunately results in Marta, who is an immigrant, being sucked into an awkward situation all while being handed a used plate to take away. This beautifully symbolizes how blinded the Thrombey’s are and how little respect they give to Marta who they see as just a way to get their point across. Other break out performances include the main character Marta Cabrera who is played by Ana de Armas. She brings a vulnerability and good moral grounding to the character that is shown in various stages of the film in both flashbacks to interactions with her and Harlan and current events in the film. Other notable actors include Chris Evans who was fresh from the set of Avengers Endgame and showed that he can act. One thing that is notable is the little time we get to spend with the Thrombey children. I’d imagine there were things on the cutting room floor that could give more depth to their characters and truly round out the reasoning’s for their actions. This is however a small complaint and the movie as a whole does not suffer too much because of this.