Knives Out
The old fashion murder mystery has always been more at home on the small screen than the big screen. The shorter running time is more conducive to a mystery plot. On film, the mystery tends to self destruct and lose the audience’s engagement. Genuine character development is sacrificed for tedious details, stereotypes, and mustache-twirling nonsense. Too much emphasis is placed on the mystery and not enough on the characters. See the original 1974 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express for a great example of all this.
However, director Rian Johnson has managed to avoid almost all the potential pitfalls of the genre and create the most entertaining and original murder mystery films in years. Knives Out, an original script by Johnson, begins with the apparent suicide of wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) which is investigated by the famous private detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig reading his lines in the best southern drawl in recent memory. The suspects include Thrombey’s wealthy family, his loyal nurse (Ana de Armas), and his absent spoiled grandson “Ransom” (Chris Evens). Knives Out succeeds where other films of its kind have failed by providing the audience with a brilliantly constructed mystery and more importantly, a main character who is not the detective.
The critical change of focus from the detective to a suspect is fundamentally why this movie works.
Credit must also go to a charming Ana de Armas, who is, from the moment she is introduced, the most likable and engaging aspect of the film. Johnson rightly shifts the focus of the narrative from the detective, whose stakes in the game are merely intellectual, to an actual suspect in the case. A suspect as a main character is a surprisingly rare occurrence in classic murder mysteries. This opens up many other avenues of conflict beyond the question of “whodunit” that Rian can explore. And explore them he does, so much of the movie isn’t actually devoted to the solving of the mystery but the fallout from the death. This makes for some surprisingly engaging character moments and trickery in the narrative, none of which would be possible if the narrative was focused on clue finding.
Knives Out is as close to original as one can expect a murder mystery to be. The plots, murder weapons, suspects, and settings have all been done before in one form or another but not like this and with this level of showmanship. The movie keeps you distracted long enough that most audience members won’t realize the answer in time for the solution to be given, although the solution is simple enough to potentially solve it before the end. Looking back, the answer seems painfully obvious, and I’d be curious to see if the film holds up upon further viewings. However, while the solution might be a little obvious to some genre veterans, there is plenty of originally in the presentation for anyone to find enjoyment.
The set design and general feeling of the production evoke the classic murder mysteries of the 20th century. The setting of an old-fashioned mansion feels anachronistic in the best way possible. The movie explores themes of the new vs the old. The young nurse comes to take care of the old mystery writer and Johnson has arrived as a caretaker for the venerable murder mystery genre. The 2017 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express was good enough, but it didn’t inspire confidence in its ability to resurrect the genre. Knives Out, however, is an entertaining film that builds something new on top of the old and is hopefully the standard-bearer for a resurgence of the genre.