A Wonderfully Stylish, Unpredictable Bit of Essential Murder Mystery... Until it Runs Out of Nerve

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2020)

Rian Johnson writes and directs this wickedly pointy ensemble murder mystery, which finds a large, snobby family at odds over the untimely demise of their allegedly-beloved patriarch and the impending redistribution of his wealth.
The first hour is a particularly brilliant bit of deceptive filmmaking, shifting from one unreliably-narrated flashback to the next, while the audience is left to make sense of all the lies and half-truths. Eccentric to the last, each member of this extended family has something to hide, a personal scandal or ulterior motive, and that's conveniently left out of their fond memories with the deceased. Though it's burdened with such a heavy cast, none feel extraneous or fade into the woodwork. They're each distinct and memorable, even if a few of the actors take things a bit over the top and flirt with parody. Daniel Craig might be the loudest such example, constantly over-playing his best Foghorn Leghorn accent, but he's got plenty of competition. Like a high-expense party game, most everybody has a gimmick. Some just work it a bit harder than the others.
When it's on-point, Knives Out delights in toying with perception and reality, sharing the same events from multiple, highly biased, perspectives. It falters on the home stretch, though, dropping the cloak and dagger in favor of a rather blunt, linear final act. That's disappointing, but not crippling. Even with the limp climax, this is a quirky, amusing, well-composed mystery. Just seemed like it was on the fast-track to something more.