- Av Club Knives Out
- Knives Out Review Av Club
- The Av Club Knives Out
Av Club Knives Out
35,388 - Year
- 2019
- Country
- United States
- Director
- Cast
Daniel Craig,Ana de Armas,Chris Evans,Jamie Lee Curtis,Toni Collette,Don Johnson - Genre
- Mystery | Crime. Black Comedy
Described as a modern murder mystery in a classic whodunit style. | Author | Review |
|---|
| United States | 'A delicious throwback to the all-star whodunit, this juicy comedy thriller is a treat from start to finish' | POS | | United States | 'Johnson shows that there’s life left in the genre, paying crowd-pleasing tribute to the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Ruth Rendell' | POS | | United States | 'The world needs more movies like 'Knives Out' (...) It’s an impeccably constructed roller coaster ride created by a mad (but meticulous) engineer, | POS | | United States | 'Johnson has crafted a film that’s both a loving homage to locked room mysteries and a giddy, laugh-out-loud funny comedy that keeps pulling the rug out from under you just when you think you’ve found your footing. It’s a total blast.' | POS | | United States | 'A crackling, devious, and hugely satisfying old-school whodunnit with a modern twist' | POS | | United States | 'The twists are kinked and amusing (...) Johnson understands that one of the pleasures of mystery stories is how they turn viewers into detectives (...) [He] scatters enough hints to keep you busy guessing' | POS | | United States | 'It’s all terrific, twisted fun that actually does keep you guessing until the deliciously slippery end (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | United States | 'Johnson tweaks the usual structure of drawing room murder mysteries to deliver something a bit hipper and more subversive (...) 'Knives Out' surprises as much as it satisfies our desire for the traditional way of things' | POS | | United States | 'Knives Out isn’t just deviously intelligent but also consistently gut-busting, and an impeccably crafted blast of Hollywood entertainment, built around several exceptional performances' | POS | | United States | 'Ingenious and irresistible, 'Knives Out' is a criminally good time' | POS | | United States | 'One of the most purely entertaining films in years. It is the work of a cinematic magician, one who keeps you so focused on what the left hand is doing that you miss the right (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)' | POS | | United States | 'The picture is a delight, but even if it offers some nostalgic pleasures, it’s also attuned to all the worries and, worse, the thoughtlessness that characterize the modern world.' | POS | | United Kingdom | '[Johnson] is a self-confessed fan of the mystery author and has managed to concoct a contemporary whodunnit that both respects and revises the subgenre. In other words, with 'Knives Out', he’s killed it. (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | United Kingdom | 'Daniel Craig has a blast in a murderously fun whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (sobre 5)' | POS | | United Kingdom | 'It’s a terrific chamber piece that works on many levels (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | United Kingdom | 'A sly, wry and nimble homage to the murder mysteries of yesteryear, with a modern spin. And it’s exactly as fun as you’d hope (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | United Kingdom | 'What’s important is this: 'Knives Out' is proof that biting satire doesn’t have to come at the expense of genuine humanity (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | United Kingdom | 'A supremely entertaining update on the classic whodunnit a la Agatha Christie (...) It's worth seeing in the cinema (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | Canada | 'Knives Out' stabs your whodunit expectations in the back, and you’ll thank it for the bloody wound (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)' | POS | | Canada | 'Much of the pleasure of 'Knives Out' is in trying to keep up with a plot that keeps reconfiguring itself in front of our eyes' | POS | | Ireland | 'A delight of a movie (...) It’s over before you have time to question the logic. Great fun (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | Ireland | 'A trite, pale comedy that tries to be as infantile as it can be within the bounds of adult entertainment (…) Rating: ½ (out of 5)' | NEG | | Ireland | 'A lovely comic turn from Daniel Craig (...) [It] is a cut above the usual amiable nonsense, and rescues a tired formula with ingenuity and wit (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | Ireland | 'A total delight to watch and a must-see for any fans of the murder mystery genre (...) It updates the genre for the 21st century (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | Australia | 'It’s a great film for the whole family, but be careful: you might not want to give them any ideas (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | Australia | 'As a feat of narrative gymnastics, 'Knives Out' sets the bar very high (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)' | POS | | Australia | 'Johnson brings with 'Knives Out' a sense of purpose that exists outside of rehashing nostalgia' | POS |
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Knives Out then jumps ahead one week, after Harlan’s funeral, as the Thrombey family gathers at the mansion in anticipation of the will reading. Yet before that can happen, the family members must go over the events leading up to Harlan’s death one more time with the authorities. Knives Out sharpens old murder-mystery tropes with a keenly assembled suspense outing that makes brilliant use of writer-director Rian Johnson's stellar ensemble.
Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is a wildly successful mystery writer and he’s dead. His housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) finds him with a slit throat and the knife still in his hand. It looks like suicide, but there are some questions. After all, who really slits their own throat? A couple of cops (the wonderful pair of LaKeith Stanfield and Noah Segan) come to the Thrombey estate do a small investigation, just to make sure they’re not missing anything, and the film opens with their conversations with each of the Thrombey family members. Daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a successful businesswoman with a shit husband named Richard (Don Johnson) and an awful son named Ransom (Chris Evans). Son Walt (Michael Shannon) runs the publishing side, but he’s been fighting a lot with dear old dad. Daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) is deep into self-help but has been helping herself by ripping off the old man. Finally, there’s Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), the real heroine of “Knives Out” and Harlan’s most trusted confidante. Can she help solve the case?
Knives Out Review Av Club
The case may have just been closed if not for the arrival of the famous detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, who spins a southern drawl and oversized ego into something instantly memorable. Blanc was delivered a news story about the suicide and envelope of money. So someone thinks this is fishy. Why? And who? The question of who brought in Blanc drives the narrative as much as who killed Harlan. Johnson is constantly presenting viewers with the familiar, especially fans of the mystery movie—the single palatial setting, the family of monsters, the exaggerated detective—but then he subverts them every so slightly, and it feels fresh. So while Blanc feels like a Poirot riff, Johnson and Craig avoid turning it into a caricature of something we’ve seen before.
The Av Club Knives Out
Craig is delightful—I love the excitement in his voice when he figures things out late in the film—but some of the cast gets lost. It’s inevitable with one this big, but if you’re going to “Knives Out” for a specific actor or actress, be aware that it’s a large ensemble piece and your fave may get short shrift. Unless your favorite is Ana de Armas, who is really the heart of the movie, allowing Johnson to imbue “Knives Out” with some wonderful political commentary. The Thrombeys claim to love Marta, even if they can’t remember which South American country she comes from, and Don Johnson gets a few razor sharp scenes as the kind of guy who rants about immigration before quoting “Hamilton.” It’s not embedded in the entire piece as much as “Get Out,” but this “Out” is similar in the way it uses genre structure to say something about wealth and social inequality. And in terms of performance, the often-promising de Armas has never been handed a role this big, and she totally delivers.