A wonderful whodunit with a great mystery and resolution that still subverts the genre (of course), and also completely hilarious

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2019)

I cannot imagine someone going to see Knives Out in theaters and leaving saying that they didn't have a good time. Knives Out manages to be at once a true whodunit and also a fresh and modern take on the genre, and manages to have a great mystery, great characters and themes, and great humor. Rian Johnson's screenplays and visual touches have always been treats when I watch his movies, and they were on full display here. The script is really tight and so good, working on many levels. It is really challenging to write a good whodunit because you want to give clues to the answer but don't want to make it obvious, and this is now the primary example I'll cite of giving plenty of information as makes sense in the plot, providing some relevant red herrings, and tying it up in a way that makes perfect sense in retrospect. The script is also great because it sets up the characters really well to then show some significant social messages: how Americans can look down on immigrants, how the prospect of money can lead people to drastic and aggressive departures from seemingly more reasonable characters, the relevance and entitlement of blood relation, and the contradiction between feeling successful and superior as a result of inherited wealth while also claiming to be self-made. Seeing the movie from Marta's perspective heightened these themes and also was a way of flipping the script from the traditional whodunit detective perspective. Finally, the script is great because the movie is absolutely hilarious. I love Daniel Craig's "CSI KFC" detective (the lines about there being a hole in the case, like a donut, and then that hole seeming to be filled but really being another donut with a smaller hole inside the bigger donut hole, was just amazing), I love the running bit about them having no idea where Marta was from and just naming South American countries, and I love the way all the characters are played to a T, especially Nana, Joni (Collette), and Ransom (Evans).
Getting into spoilers, the ending is really great. I was convinced the entire time that he had set his death up and left one last mystery for them, but that was just a really good red herring. The motive and the way Ransom acted makes a lot of sense given the unfolding of information and also ties up all loose threads very cleanly. Rather than having a twist for twist's sake, Johnson sets up a plausible and complex mystery with a legitimate solution but lots of surprises. The ending was also great in how it showed everyone in the family's focus on material wealth and never truly connecting with or caring about Harlan, while Marta did. She didn't play Go purely to win, she played to make beautiful patterns, same as how she lived with kindness. It never feels overstuffed or too complicated, but has many new twists and pieces of information that keep you thinking. The runtime absolutely flies by, as it's so energetic and funny. A great movie for everyone to watch and enjoy. This and Parasite have easily the two best scripts I've seen this year and among the stronger ones in my memory, so I'll be very sad if neither is nominated for screenplay (fairly likely).