Knives Out

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2019)

We all love a good whodunit, the most famous sleuths like Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple deducing a murderer from an A-list cast of suspects, well, now comes this modern day movie in the same league, written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick Lane, Looper, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Last Jedi). Basically, wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is celebrating his 85th birthday and invites his family to his mansion for his party. The next morning, Harlan's housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) finds him dead, apparently having slit his own throat. An anonymous figure hires private detective Benoit Blanc (Golden Globe nominated Daniel Craig) to investigate. Blanc learns that Harlan had alienated many of the family: : he had threatened to expose his son-in-law Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson) for having an affair; cut off the allowance of his daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) for stealing money, meant for the tuition for his granddaughter Megan "Meg" (Katherine Langford); fired his youngest son Walter "Walt" (Michael Shannon) from his publishing company; and cut his lazy grandson Ransom (Chris Evans) out of his will. Flashbacks reveal that after the party Harlan's nurse Marta Cabrera (Golden Globe nominated Ana de Armas) accidentally injected Harlan with a fatal dose of morphine. Minutes from death, Harlan told Marta how to avoid suspicion, making it appear he was still alive after she had driven home, then he slit his own throat. Because Marta cannot lie without vomiting, she avoids answering the questions of Detective Lieutenant Elliot (Lakeith Stanfield), but Blanc asks her to assist in his investigation. As they search the property, Marta attempts to conceal evidence, but is only partially successful. The family, including Harlan's eldest daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), is shocked to hear from Harlan's lawyer Alan Stevens (Frank Oz) that Harlan left everything to Marta. They turn on her, but Ransom helps her escape. Ransom tricks Marta into confessing to him but offers to help her in exchange for his share of the inheritance. The other Thrombeys realize that, under the slayer rule, Marta will lose the inheritance if she killed Harlan, but Blanc tells them that they all are still suspects. They try to persuade Marta to renounce her inheritance. Marta receives a blackmail note with a partial photocopy of Harlan's toxicology report. She and Ransom drive to the medical examiner's office, but it has been destroyed in a fire. Marta receives an email with a time and address to meet the blackmailer. Blanc spots her and Ransom, the police catch and arrest Random, while Blanc tells Marta that Wanetta "Great Nana" Thrombey (K Callan), Harlan's mother, saw Ransom climbing down from Harlan's upstairs rooms on the night of his death. Marta goes to the address in the email and discovers Fran drugged. Marta confesses everything to Blanc, but Ransom has already informed on her. At the house, Marta finds Fran had the copy of the full toxicology report. Marta is about to confess everything to the family, but Blanc stops after finding something missing in the report. He brings Marta, Ransom and the police to a room to reveal his deductions. Ransom learned that Harlan was leaving everything to Marta, so he swapped the contents of Marta's medication vials so she would kill Harlan with an overdose, so she would not gain the inheritance. However, Marta, an experienced nurse, administered the correct medicine without reading the labels. After the death was reported as suicide, Ransom anonymously hired Blanc to discover Marta's guilt. Fran later witnesses Ransom swapping the vials back and sent him the blackmail note. Realising that Marta had given Harlan the correct medication, Ransom passed on the blackmail note to Marta, removing the address and time. He burned down the medical examiner's office to destroy the evidence of Marta's innocence and burned Fran's copy of the toxicology report. He drugged Fran with morphine and emailed her location to Marta, planning to frame Marta for Fran's murder. Marta receives a call from the hospital and says that Fran is alive. Believing that Fran will implicate him, Ransom angrily confesses, and vows revenge. Marta vomits on Ransom; she lied that Fran had survived, and tricked Ransom into confessing. In anger, he grabs a knife from the wall to attack and kill her, but discovers it is a retractable stage knife. Ransom is taken into custody, while Marta watches him and the Thrombey family members from the balcony of what is now her mansion. Also starring Jaeden Martell as Jacob Thrombey, Noah Segan as Trooper Wagner, Riki Lindhome as Donna Thrombey, M. Emmet Walsh as Mr. Proofroc, Marlene Forte as Mrs. Cabrera and Shyrley Rodriguez as Alicia Cabrera, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a voice cameo as Detective Hardrock. Craig is likeably comical as the detective from the Deep South (he sounds like Foghorn Leghorn lol), and other cast members like Curtis, Collette and Armas look like they are having a blast, Evans get some of the best lines throwing insults. The whodunit is a well-trodden genre, but with the addition of a witty script and some deadpan humour along the way, this is a terrific refreshing take on it, I admit you have to really concentrate to get the concluding twist, but I'd like to see a follow-up, overall an entertaining murder mystery. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Rian Johnson, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Very good!