Great fun watch with an interesting crime story

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2020)

"Knives Out" is an American mostly English-language movie from 2019 that made it now in 2020 also here to Germany. The writer and director is Rian Johnson and I am a bit unsure about him honestly. His very first film "Brick" I was not big on at all, maybe because also the lead role seemed miscast, but some of his other career works I enjoy a lot and that includes of course also his television work on the marvellous Breaking Bad. But now he is safe on the big screen. Seems a very versatile guy anyway, not too long ago he directed a pretty nice music video for LCD Soundsystem. Anyway, for this film here that runs for slightly over 2 hours, so not a short watch at all, he received his very first Oscar nomination this morning and a huge success for him and after seeing the film now, it is not undeserving at all. The movie also achieved nice accolades at all kinds of other award shows, such as Golden Globe nominations for Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas. For Craig it was the first believe it or not and even if I like him there's no way I can say that Ana de Armas is not the film's brightest spot and I would have liked her to get an Oscar nomination as well. Oh well, maybe at some point in the future. As for the other cast members, you will find many big names here. They are all supporting and I guess it comes down to how much you like them when deciding who's your favorite because they all do not have the biggest impact on the story, but are nice to watch. I personally enjoyed Shannon the most, which is not a surprise because that is true for almost every film he is in. Really versatile actor. Don Johnson I found most forgettable perhaps, but this was also expected as I don't have much connection with him in other films and the revelation about his character being unfaithful also added very little for me, even if the way how his wife found out was kinda funny. Christopher Plummer can of course also always be relied on and it's so nice to see that even close to the age of 90, he is still dellivering quality portrayals that are pretty much flawless. Luckily, even if his character is killed right at the beginning of the film, the man gets a lot of screen time as we get closer to finding out what actually happened.
So it is a crime story and Johnson took an interesting path here. He gave us the detailed solution who did it and what exactly happened already before half of the film is over. But this is also only half the truth as we find out at the end. I do not really want to go too much into detail about the ending and how everything unfolds because you should experience that yourself. I just felt somehow that they all did it maybe (they all planned it), but then it was just one bad guy, but he was really very bad as we see when he grabs that knife and unlucky for him, it was just an artificial knife this time, which really (also with the slow motion scene leading to it) was absolutely hilarious and I and almost everybody else in the theatre was laughing so hard. Brilliant reference at that point back to the film's beginning when we have Chris Plummer's character (I think it was him) say something about how knives are sometimes real and sometimes just imitations. Luckily, that one was an imitation because it would have been heartbreaking if the guy really could have killed de Armas' character. She is also pretty stunning no denying. But so is Katherine Langford. Anyway, let's not get carried away on looks now, or at least not human looks. That knife throne already made for a nice smile on my lips with how Craig sits in it and all the knives are pointing at him. Really nice and smart and creative inclusion of the murder/suicide weapon. As for the Armas, her character is really depicted in such an innocent manner in the sense of how she is really the ultimately good human being. That made her truly memorable with how things played out at the end. Still in-between, I cannot deny that I thought maybe actually she was not that nice and in fact an evil mastermind, like when she immediately said that it was Hemsworth's character who wanted her to drive and put the blame on him. But it was nothing. Still, clearly Johnson was toying with the idea that we in the audience could think she murdered the old man on purpose knowing she was the one who'd get it all. Very talented actress, she delivered her part too and also nailed her funnier moments, which admittedly also had a lot to do with the script like when she tells Shannon's character that it is perfect because she has the money to get great lawyers or of course in another epic moment when the film closes exactly the way it started, with a cup that has some pretty memorable words on it that will again have you in stitches.
I mean it is not a perfect mvoie, but there really isn't too much wrong. Maybe I struggled with believing that Craig's character actually knew it all so quickly because of the blood spot and also the exact revelation came totally out of nowhere at the end and he must be a true mastermind that he figured it all out so effortlessly apparently. But as a huge Bond fan, I cannot really say anything negative at all about his character. Or about the actor. He made some great career choices in terms of which films he played in in recent years and knowing the upcoming is his last appearance as 007, I am not only genuinely curious about this one, but also about all other projects he will work on in the future. I think there may be some great things in store. Perhaps he can even collaborate with Johnson again and give us a sequel/prequel here that is about how he solved the tennis player case that is mentioned on one occasion in this movie by another character. By the way, the Black policeman was really forgettable here, the other White officer though brought in some nice comedy with how much he was in awe of the creative people around him, especially at the end when he shushes his colleague down. Have to mention the Cluedo quote as well. Okay, let me think what else can I say about this film. It is a pretty long one yes, but it was so interesting and entertaining that it really flew by. There is great attention to detail here on so many occasions. One excellent example is how the female protagonist was really good enough in her profession that she took the right medicine because she saw the difference in color, which really made me appreciate de Armas' character even more. Okay the story with the other woman blackmailing the killer I could have done without probably, but even these more mediocre scenes and moments only fade because everything else constructed around them is so awesome. They are still okay by general standards and even these include moments of true creativity, such as the reference about "you" not being "Hugh" and how only staff calls him that. So no matter which perspective you take, it is difficult to find any real reasons why this film should get a thumbs-down. The good in here is just so much more frequent and permanent than the weak, which is pretty much not existent anyway. Oh yeah, I really shall not forget about the super old lady there: She does not even need to say a word to make for comedic gold, be it early on when we find out nobody knows how old she really is (from Collette) or later on when she sits there right in front of the window and sees de Armas' character (also pay attention how nobody can remember which country she is from originally and how they wanted her to be at the funeral, but more people were against it) or when she sits with Craig's character later on. Okay maybe she would have been more interesting if she actually did not know what was going on around her instead of telling Craig's character and the explanation about what she said in detail and that it explained how Hemsworth's character returned before that already also did not really convince me, but I am glad she was included nonetheless. This was maybe my favorite comedy film from 2019, despite the serious undertone and crime(s) happening, because I kinda struggle with seeing Tarantino's new film as a comedy, even if that one was as good as this one here, or maybe even slightly inferior. Okay, that is all then. Of course I give "Knives Out" a (very) positive recommendation and it is for sure among the most astounding cinematic achievements from the last 52 weeks. Highly recommended and please please make another movie about Benoit Blanc.