Knives Out is a delicious, twisted, 
witty murder mystery.
The film, written and directed by Rian Johnson,
manages at the same time to be both
meta and self-aware 
but also satisfyingly old-school.
Some of the actors play it straight 
while others seem to be in on the joke.
At one point, a detective finally catches up 
with the runaways he's pursuing and declares:
That was the dumbest car chase 
of all time.
There’s mist, dogs, a large mansion, 
a superbly dysfunctional family
and Daniel Craig, with a Southern drawl, 
as detective Benoit Blanc,
who is described as 
the last of the gentleman sleuths.
Truly, what’s not to love?
Within the first few seconds, 
we have a murder.
Harlan Thrombey, best-selling, 
world-famous mystery writer
and owner of a flourishing publishing company 
called Blood Like Wine Publishing,
is found dead in his study 
with his throat slit.
His children, their partners and kids had
collected in his sprawling mansion
to celebrate his 85th birthday.
We discover that each one has a strong motive
to want him dead so whodunit?
Johnson crams the frame with terrific actors
– Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon,
Toni Collette, Don Johnson 
and Chris Evans
– and then cheerfully observes them 
tearing into each other.
Christopher Plummer, brimming with wisdom
and weariness, plays Harlan.
And the lovely Ana de Armas is 
Harlan’s Latina nurse Marta,
who finds herself 
at the center of events.
Or, as Benoit puts it: The donut, because
it’s a case with a hole in the middle.
Craig brings exactly the right blend 
of pomposity and intellect to Benoit.
He gets some of 
the best lines in the film
– at one point, he’s expounding about 
how his work is like Gravity’s Rainbow.
When Marta says that she hasn’t read 
Thomas Pynchon’s seminal novel,
Benoit replies: Nobody has.
The jokes don’t flag even 
when the plot gets over-wrought.
And underneath the laughs 
and the furious twists and turns,
Johnson layers in social satire.
We repeatedly hear about Marta’s kindness
and industriousness.
It’s revealing that she's an immigrant.
The rest, as Benoit says, are 
a pack of vultures at a feast.
This includes a sullen teenage boy 
with alt-right politics.
At one point, Benoit calls him 
the Nazi child.
I laughed out loud.
The mansion, filled with statues, rugs and
secret staircases, is also a looming presence.
The production design by David Crank, 
the art direction by Jeremy Woodward
and the set decoration by 
David Schlesinger is so ornate
that you'll want to see the film again 
just to take it all in.
At one point, 
Benoit is sitting on a chair,
which is embedded in this 
large circle made of knives.
It’s fantastical but also hilarious.
As is Harlan’s sinister portrait in which,
of course, he’s holding a knife!
Knives Out has a sense of glee 
that’s infectious.
It’s pleasurable and occasionally silly
but it’s consistently fun.
And that’s a real accomplishment.
