Old-school ‘Knives Out’ kills with its sharp wit
The culprit’s pretty clear in this case: Rian Johnson brings the murder mystery back in vogue with his cunning and twisty “Knives Out.” The “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” writer/director delves into the world of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and takes a stab at carving out something new, tweaking suspect archetypes and playing with tropes but also honoring the whodunits that came before his. Wickedly hilarious and even a little political, “Knives Out” rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide) revels in the fun of red herrings, lies upon lies, and enough Chekhov’s guns for an arsenal, while introducing Daniel Craig's country-fried Benoit Blanc as the latest oddball sleuth of note. Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is a wealthy mystery novelist of much acclaim who’s found dead, throat sliced and blood everywhere, in his New England mansion during an 85th birthday celebration. His dysfunctional family hangs around for the funeral but also for the all-important will reading. Among the relatives are Harlan’s real-estate mogul daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her philandering husband, Richard (Don Johnson); publisher son Walt (Michael Shannon); lifestyle guru daughter Joni (Toni Collette); and spoiled playboy grandson Ransom (Chris Evans). Authorities investigate the situation, and while a deadpan local cop (Lakeith Stanfield) and fanboy state trooper (Noah Segan) ask the mundane questions, a grinning Blanc sits back and watches as his enigmatic presence throws off various family members, all of whom have a motive for murder. Blanc is present on behalf of a mystery client, and when the private eye suspects foul play was involved, he enlists the help of Harlan’s good-hearted nurse Marta (Ana de Armas), who cannot lie or else she pukes, to figure out family se
crets and guilty parties.
“Knives Out” harks back to star-laden mystery movies of old, such as “Murder on the Orient Express”: Where else would you see James Bond, Captain America and Laurie Strode in the same film, other than in a cinephile's dream? Craig and de Armas get the lion’s share of screen time when the game is afoot, but everybody gets a chance to showcase their character’s idiosyncrasies.
The political jabs are less than subtle: The Thrombeys represent a clueless, self-serving corner of the One Percent. Linda proudly telling the cops she got a $1 million loan to start her company feels awfully Trumpian, and none of them really cares enough to figure out what country Marta is from – one thinks it’s Uruguay, another Mexico.
Johnson adores painting his canvas in absurdity. The filmmaker brilliantly reinvented crime noir with a high school bent in his 2006 directorial debut, “Brick,” and “Knives Out” marries the problem-solving of Sherlock and Columbo with the nuttiness of “Clue.”
Craig’s delightfully strange detective is what takes the film from entertaining to enthralling. Blanc gets the best lines (he likens a will reading to a “community theater production of a tax return”) and gets lost in his own racing, razorsharp mind. (In trying to break through a bothersome part of the case, he spouts off about a doughnut hole within a doughnut hole, hilariously confusing surrounding players.)
“Knives Out” is a lovingly and intricately crafted homage to Johnson’s drawing-room predecessors, unleashing a drawling delight and a refreshing throwback vibe for youngsters who’ve never had the pleasure of watching “Murder, She Wrote.”