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Hello everyone,

Here is my review of Knives Out , an American movie, written, produced and directed by Rian Johnson, and released recently in November 2019. Knives Out is a crime story about the mysterious death of a successful thriller author and multi-millionaire Harlan Thrombey who invites his extended family to his remote mansion on his 85th birthday in the hope of re-establishing the ties, but the next morning, however, Harlan is found dead.

Detective Benoit Blanc is called in to solve the mystery, which turns out to be quite a challenge. Harlan has rather strange and suspicious family members and also a number of staff members who served him when he was alive.

Knives Out is an old-fashioned murder mystery of Agatha Christie-like allure. That is what filmmaker Rian Johnson advocated when he took on the story and direction for Knives Out . The director of Brick and The Last Jedihas crammed all the standard elements of the genre into this classic whodunit: an immense country house, a rich family full of intrigues, only striking characters and of course the murder of an authoritative man. It seems like a lifelike game of Cluedo. So: who killed Harlan Thrombley with the knife in the study room?

Those who have a warm heart for the world famous board game Cluedo will certainly enjoy Knives Out. Rian Johnson was clearly inspired for his latest film. He once broke through with cult film Brick, after which he continued with strong films such as Looper and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi. For his new film, he can count on a real star cast, with names such as Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon and Jamie Lee Curtis, all actors who actually do not need any further explanation. Knives Out is a whodunnit pur sang and the film therefore breathes the atmosphere of mysteries that we know from Agatha Christie for example. The film starts with a concise version of the death of the wealthy crime writer Harlan Thrombey and the interrogation of the family by the police. The stories of the family members are not correct and in fact only one thing is certain: it is certainly not suicide. During the conversations, private detective Benoit Blanc profiles himself in the background. Nevertheless, he is prominent, by pressing a piano key, so that he is waiting for the moment that he will become involved in the story.

Rian Johnson works the suspects one by one. He does this with a series of interrogations with a very special spectator. Private detective Benoit Blanc, a fantastic creamy role by Daniel Craig who, due to his southern American accent, most sounds like the brother of Francis Underwood, has more than earned his spurs in a number of controversial cases. He is initially only used as an observer, but always annoyingly announces his presence to the potential suspects by pressing a piano key. It doesn't take long for Blanc to take over the murder investigation completely.

A barrage of dialogue is fired at the viewer, until suddenly Marta Cabrera comes into the picture. Marta has the characteristic that she cannot lie and if she does, she must surrender. This sounds a bit bizarre and the added value of this strange phenomenon is guessing, although it does provide the comic note in the film. This is especially apparent when Blanc starts questioning her and he has almost completely unraveled the mystery, but the loose ends still have to tie together. Meanwhile, the family members are bickering happily and every family member is suspected more by the second. But still, those who pay a little attention can already feel a little about how the mystery works. In that regard, you will not be faced with a big surprise at the end of the ride. Yet it is mainly about the road to this, where the why question is kept secret for a long time. Still, some things take a long time to spread out. Fortunately, the film is also entertaining enough so that even if you have the pieces of the puzzle in the right place quickly, you do not need to be disturbed by the rest of the process.

Knives Out is indebted to the genre that made Christie great and is therefore a tribute to the work of the highly productive British thriller author. There are studies that show that Christie built her plots and sentences in such a way that it is impossible to stop reading. Johnson's thriller does not have this hypnotic effect, but it is full of intriguing characters who all have their reasons for getting rid of the pater familias.It also helps enormously that alongside Craig, the star cast of the film is striking, and it will not surprise anyone that the acting level is quite high. Some things are nice and thick and scoured against overacting, but it fits well with the film that Knives Out wants to be. Daniel Craig in particular is making a big contribution. With an almost exaggerated Texan accent and typical body language, the atmosphere of the film really benefits. Despite the fact that a new James Bond adventure is imminent, Craig also knows how to bypass the fact that we also see James Bond passing by and illustrating his qualities as an actor. Is Knives Out a Craig one-man show? Certainly not. Likewise, Jamie Lee Curtis plays a good role as a frustrated daughter who does everything in her power to get hold of her father's legacy.

On the basis of Johnson and an impressive star cast, Knives Out is above all a nice entertaining old-style murder mystery. Here and there some scenes are spread out a bit too much, so that the film sometimes feels a bit long-winded. It is a small point of criticism, because with a great soundtrack and strong cinematography, Knives Out is especially good for a great film experience. In addition, the extensive star cast, especially Craig once again shows that he has more to offer than playing 007. Whether the outcome of the whodunnit will really surprise you is doubtful, but despite this there is plenty to experience on the way to the outcome. In addition, it is above all the denouement that the film is able to reinforce with a surprisingly strong motive.

To conclude...

I would say, it is a nice movie, beyond my expectations! It seemed to me to be a boring movie at first and I was a bit annoyed by Daniel Craig's 'overacting', but as the movie progressed I started to enjoy it more and more. Delicious dry humor, an interesting plot with funny caricatures and just good acting. 130 minutes seemed very long, but I never got bored.

Don't know if the film is for everyone, since in my opinion it is more of a kind of comedy instead of a 'serious' mystery thriller like what the trailer makes it look a bit more like. But I certainly enjoyed it.

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/546554-knives-out?language=en-US
Critic: AAA