You don’t see old-fashioned murder mysteries as often as you used to. Not truly great ones anyway. Classic sleuths like Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot or Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes have a storied history of stylishly solving the unsolvable (in both print and on film), but director Rian Johnson is smart enough to know that a successful modern variation on an archetypal storytelling form depends on the clever and careful lifting of certain elements. With comparisons inevitable, Johnson wears his influences proudly on his sleeve, openly referencing the great detectives, mystery writers, and even murderous board games with loving abandon and comedic utility.
But that’s not all. Johnson’s film is also rich with political and cultural criticism, taking equal aim at both blind Trumpism and hypocritical class-based liberalism. Immigrants and immigration act as an underlying current that serves as motive and redemption in the face of ignorant nativism and unearned privilege, while the myth of the so-called “self-made man” is exposed as a lie. In addition, kindness continually outdoes cruelty and malice by sheer force of coincidence, demonstrating that this is, in fact, the default state of humanity.
And then there’s the mystery itself, which isn’t really a mystery at all but a kind of nimble anti-cat-and-mouse caper that is as entertaining as it is smart. In a testament to the efficiency of the script (also by Johnson) and Hollywood greats like Billy Wilder, Knives Out doesn’t waste a single moment, line, or action. Every detail is significant to the film’s unraveling narrative and doesn’t allow for a single wasted or superfluous element. It’s a tight film with a plot that could easily have gotten away from a lesser writer and director, but maintains its plausibility through familiar story beats and tested characterizations, all skillfully filtered through a contemporary lens.
As the title suggests Knives Out has the potential to cut deep (and I hope it does for those whose politics it pokes fun at), but what makes it truly great is its willingness to have fun and its clear exuberance for a genre eager for an update. With an amazing ensemble cast (including, for starters, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, and Christopher Plummer), Knives Out plunges into the canon of great whodunnits with affection and reverence, and comes out the other side as one of the year’s most entertaining films.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.