Review of Knives Out (2019) by Djnicey — 21 Apr 2020

As a murder-mystery, it doesn't come anywhere close to an Agatha Christie, or any of the other interesting whodunnits, there is one scene where one of the characters is watching Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote on a TV and it just made me really cringe, there are other self-serving references where the writer/director shoves in political statements and other trite references, Rian Johnson is quite obviously his own biggest fan.

There isn't much suspense at all, the movie plays out pretty much exactly as you think it will, it becomes obvious from early on who-dunnit and the characters are all caricatures, none give a nuanced and interesting performance. Daniel Craig fails at an American drawl accent and this is a distraction throughout the whole movie. They should have cast an American or a decent voice actor, or had him have an English accent. Ana de Armas has a large amount of screen time and does well playing the part, as the central figure she carries the film and its straightforward plot. Her central plot contrivance, that she is sick every time she lies, isn't used in an interesting way, it merely provides a convenience for the "detectives" who do almost zero actual detective work after the initial interviews at the very start of the film that establish characters and motives. All of this is wasted as the cast never become plausible suspects, there are only ever two suspects and one becomes obvious in the second act. There is none of the subtlety or misdirection of the classic murder mysteries.

There are so many illogical plot holes and unnatural events that the film falls apart as a crime thriller, characters walk over, throw away, and destroy evidence in full view of the police, who say or do absolutely nothing about it. There are other inconsistencies, the hugest of which is the central overdose plot and a cover-up that wouldn't work as a cover-up after a post-mortem. Its watchable and entertaining enough to pass a couple of hours, but I wouldn't ever watch it a second time or rate it as a good murder mystery, as there is precious little mystery.