Knives Out

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2019)

Knives Out is a star studded whodunit where all the suspects are gathered in the mansion.
It is a knowing variation of the board game Cluedo which itself was turned into a movie in the mid 1980s. The victim is best selling crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer.)
A private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has been hired to find out if the writer's death really was murder or as the police suspect, a suicide. A recently changed will might lead to a motive.
This comedy mystery is reliant on Harlan's personal nurse Marta (Ana de Armas) a woman who physically throws up if she tells a lie.
Following the conventions of many Agatha Christie mysteries, Knives Out turns a lot of the essential ingredients of the genre in his head by adding several layers to the story.
However it is not original as there have been several movies that have twisted the crime mystery genre. It also feel slightly laboured and in the end it is superficial as Craig's accent which at times becomes grating, Chris Evans playboy character is underwritten and he struggles among other cast members such as Don Johnson, Michael Shannon and Jamie Leigh Curtis.
responsible for her boss's death as she believes, or is someone else guilty? As the plot unfolds, one becomes convinced that Marta is simply a pawn, but quite who is making all the moves remains unclear until the very end, when all the pieces are finally put together by Blanc. It's an enjoyable ride, and there's more fun to be had after the film has finished in trying to remember all the plot twists and see if they check out. I'm satisfied that they do.