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Knives Out
USA 2019
produced by Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson, Tom Karnowski (executive) for T-Street/Lionsgate, Media Rights Capital
directed by Rian Johnson
starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, Frank Oz, K Callan, Noah Segan, M. Emmet Walsh, Marlene Forte, Raúl Castillo, Shyrley Rodriguez, Kerry Frances, Gary Tanguay, Octavia Chavez-Richmond, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (voice)
written by Rian Johnson, music by Nathan Johnson
Benoit Blanc
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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World famous (and filthy rich) mystery writer Harlan Thrombey
(Christopher Plummer) has just died in what looks like apparent suicide -
he slit his own throat -, and of course, it doesn't take long for all the
prospective heirs to come out of the woodwork, including his daughter
Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her husband Richard (Don Johnson), his son
and his publisher Walt (Michael Shannon), his needy daughter in law Joni
(Toni Collette) and quite a few others - even if he has cut off all of
them at his birthday party only the night before, and true to his word he
leaves his fortune to none of them but to his caregiver Marta (Ana de
Armas), who was really the only one to give a shit about his well-being
the last several years. This comes at a total surprise to Marta, but also
makes her the enemy number one for Harlan's family - for all but his
grandson Ransom (Chris Evans), who does his best to keep her out of the
crossfire, and to whom she ultimately confesses that she has actually
accidently killed Harlan by giving him the wrong medication upon which he,
dying as he was, slit his own throat to deem her innocent after all. Thing
is, after Marta spilling the beans to Ransom, it doesn't take him long
before spilling the beans to the police - and theoretically she would be
fucked right then and there, hadn't an anonymous person hired private eye
Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who's determined to find out the real
truth, and he knows two things, for one, Harlan did not commit
suicide, for the other it was not Marta who has killed him ... In
all, an enjoyably old-fashioned whodunnit that above all else proves two
things, one that the genre as such still has appeal, and two that Daniel
Craig can deliver a pretty nuanced performance even if he's not James
Bond, and despite the weird accent he sports here. And for the
most part, the film's carried by a very solid script that not only shows
understanding for the genre as such but also wit of its own - but that
falls apart a bit by presenting the character Marta as innocent pretty
much from the get-go, even if it's suggested she accidently killed Harlan
(she's eventually redeemed of even that), so lacks tension in that
department. And on the other hand, much of the exquisite cast feel
under-used in favour of Ana de Armas and Chris Evans, both of which give
solid but by no means stellar performances. So in all, this is a good
movie, but not nearly as good as it could have been.
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