Knives Out (second-pass)
Cert: 12A / 130 mins / Dir. Rian Johnson / Trailer
Not a great deal more to add upon my first brief mutterings on this movie, other than to say that it will become a firm favourite in the years to come and I'm already hoping Benoit Blanc has more outings in the future.
Knowing the story and its outcome, a second-pass of Knives Out meant I could get fully immersed in the magnificent performances which Rian Johnson plucks from his cast - one of the very few exceptions where the players of a movie are clearly having an absolute ball and it still results in something which isn't self-indulgently awful. And although there are narrative 'tells' to pick up when re-watching, the identity of the murderer never seems too obvious, the motives of the non-murderers are just as potentially solid, and Blanc most definitely does not know whodunnit all along.
Come for the murder, stay for the fun.
Then come back again for both...
Agatha Christye type things.
It is.
It is.
It will be high up on a a lot of performers' CVs for quite a while, and with good reason.
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Another pre-Christmas flick arriving with much anticipation*1 is Rian Johnson's Knives Out, a good old-fashioned, star-studded whodunnit murder mystery in the very best traditions of Agatha Christie but with a (12A-permissible) potty mouth. Heading up the cast list are Jamie-Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans and Don Johnson, but it's Daniel Craig who really steals the show as sleuth Benoit Blanc (with his force of character being sequel-bait alone).
Now despite the many 'film of the year' plaudits I've seen so far, it's important to note that Rian Johnson is neither deconstructing nor reinventing the genre here; he's just having a load of intricate fun in the sandpit. Viewers versed in Christie's canon will feel instantly at home with something that's definitely an homage rather than a rip-off. The film never tries to be smarter than its audience, and that counts for a lot. You can spend your time trying to second-guess the outcome, or you can enjoy the two hours in the company of a cast and director who understand character-play through a viciously squabbling family full of potential murderers.
*1 Cineworld Unlimited advance-screening, and dear lord the casual cardholders were getting their money's worth with this one. The place was packed (which is a good thing), attracting as it did the type of patron who apparently pays for the card but doesn't use it very regularly so doesn't know how to behave in a cinema. The shuffling, the talking, the phones, the smell. Did I mention I don't like people? [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
