Knives Out - Movie Review

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2020)

Knives Out is a technical masterpiece from Rian Johnson, and it's honestly hard to decide which of his films I like the most. I unapologetically love Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and I think I currently have Knives Out as my second favourite Johnson film, just behind Looper.
There is so much I love about this film, but let's start with the cast. Ana de Armas is truly the standout of the film, and I also loved Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. Knives Out had one of the best ensembles of any film that was released in 2019, and there isn't a single weak performance. I will say that some of the actors are under-utilised, but that couldn't really be helped with how many characters they had to cover.
The screenplay for this film is absolutely spectacular, and I love how much attention they gave to every detail. Elements which seem small at the beginning of the film are picked back up later on, and, by the end of the film, we can see all of the breadcrumbs that Johnson was leaving for us. I have seen the film twice now, and loved it even more the second time.
This brings us to the overall narrative of Knives Out, and it has one of the most compelling storylines that I have seen in quite some time. I knew what was going to happen the second time I watched it, but that didn't stop me from loving the journey these characters went on. That just goes to show how brilliantly directed the film truly is.
The only weak part of Knives Out for me is the fact that the character of Marta has a condition where she throws up every time she thinks about lying. I don't know if this is a real condition or not, but it just felt extremely convenient for the plot and it took me out of the film every time this happened.
Overall, apart from that one element, I absolutely loved everything about Knives Out, and I really hope we get the sequel that Johnson has said he would be interested in doing.
SCORE: 95%