Knives Out Review - No Spoilers

As much as I love Rian Jonson’s spectacle, I think I love what he does behind the spectacle even more.

Knives Out is Rian Jonson’s latest movie, a thrillingly stylistic murder mystery starring an insane cast including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Jonson, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, and the list goes on and on. Less well known is the incredible Ana de Armas, who I didn’t recognize initially, but was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Joi in Blade Runner: 2049, a role she absolutely rocked. And she rocks in this movie as well, becoming our point of view into this absurd, dysfunctional family dynamic. Everyone brings their all into this movie, and half the fun is watching this star-studded cast argue and interact. This all with the incredible set-design and wonderful score by Nathan Johnson sets you directly into what feels like an unwritten Agatha Christie novel come to life.

Rian Jonson has had a weird go. I feel like everything he’s put out has become divisive in some level. Most recently, The Last Jedi has split audiences with its reconstructive exploration of the Star Wars franchise. Before then, Looper is either a cool, tightly packed noir with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Bruce Willis, or a confusing attempt at time travel with nonsensical rules and a jarring tone shift. I haven’t watched Breaking Bad, but I know Jonson’s episode “The Fly” has been upheld as a great character study and derided as being pointless filler. With all that in mind, I’m super pleased to see that Knives Out has received such a loving reception. It’s earned it, this movie is dripping with style and class. The writing is just fun to listen to. The script features the sorts of weird pop-culture references that I would include; mostly, it just feels like the sort of movie I’d want to write. My only real critique is that I wanted more, and I think that’s very telling of the world that Jonson builds. The runtime absolutely blows by, and I would have no qualms with a longer movie that just sits in this world more. I wanted more of Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Jonson arguing. I wanted more of Daniel Craig’s absurd, amazing accent as he philosophizes about life. I wanted more layers of insane reveals and counter-plotting. I wanted this movie to be just a little bit bigger, and the more I look into the side-plots of this movie, the more I’m realizing Knives Out may just be bigger than it seems at first glance.

In a way, I think that’s Jonson’s whole style. Firstly, all of his movies feature these weird, compelling, fantastic worlds I just want more time in. Canto Bight might feel weird in terms of the larger pacing of The Last Jedi, but you can’t deny that whole atmosphere is just odd and goody and kind of mesmerizing. But Jonson’s real talent is beyond all that. Behind the mythic proportions of The Last Jed lies a story about broken people dealing with failure and insecurity. Behind the twisting time travel rules of Looper is a story about pain and consequence. So many of the aforementioned cases where Jonson’s directing has been divisive is where he shifts away from the hopes of the audience, and towards more subdued character explorations. More and more, I’m realizing that Rian Jonson’s skill is the way he builds interesting and compelling themes and subtext behind the wild spectacle and intrigue. Knives Out is no exception to this. To say anything about the details is to ruin the fun of the movie, but while the winding murder mystery is the reason to buy your ticket, the underlying criticism of rich American politics is what makes Knives Out such a biting watch. More than that, the way it builds into its central few characters is surprisingly moving for what could have been a bog-standard movie mystery. In fact, every character is surprisingly flavourful and detailed; I want to keep rewatching this film just for the little nuances that everyone adds.

I can’t say much more without spoiling things, but this movie is just an utter pleasure to watch and to experience. It’s just an all-around solid movie. Do yourself a favour and jump on Rian Jonson’s wild ride. I’m excited to see just how he’ll surprise us next.