“Knives Out” Stands Out

Release Date：Nov/27/2019
Genre：Comedy/Crime/Drama
Director：Rian Johnson
Cast：Chris Evans、Daniel Craig、Ana de Armas、Katherine Langford、Jamie Lee Curtis

Viola's Rating：8.8







As “Queen of Crime”, the English detective writer, Agatha Christie, had enjoyed Canon of Sherlock Holmes during childhood, Director Rian Johnson has been a big fan of Agatha Christie. Not a productive director he is, “Knives Out” is merely Johnson’s fifth feature film, but dedicating himself into his favorite genre has turned the film into an impeccable work. With an A-list cast and his enthusiasm towards detective stories, Johnson has successfully attracted the audience to the theater since November 27^th 2019, and he’s not letting anyone down.

Being a well-told detective story, this dramatic, criminal comedy talks about how a detective (Daniel Craig) investigates the death of a patriarch of a bizarre and combative family.

Johnson served as director and writer for “Knives Out”, and he has proved that he’s such an amazing storyteller as his writing model, Agatha Christie, by arranging all the bookends in the flick naturally. While watching, moviegoers wouldn’t notice that certain details mean something until they see the second half of the bookend. With Johnson’s directing and storytelling skills, there really isn’t any frame wasted in “Knives Out”.

Not only telling a brilliant detective story, Johnson also makes good use of the different characters to share his moral values by applying an affluent family without kind hearts with the complex, plot-driven detective genre “Whodunit”. Even after the audience becomes omniscient about the process of the crime, the identity of the criminal is still up in the air. From then on, Johnson reveals the dark side of humanity when it comes to fortune and self interest while at the same time, continues to tell the story of solving the case.

Apparently at least one of the characters is telling the lie, and Director Johnson utilizes this attribute very well and plays wit it. With all the characters giving out different information, moviegoers wouldn’t be confused with the clues and their motivations, but will be entertained seeing key elements pointed out with funny lines. This way, only the detective himself, not the audience, will be exhausted trying to figure out who the murderer is.

Since “Knives Out” is a fantastic detective story, it’s absolutely unpredictable. More than one twist is involved during the 130 minutes adventure, and each one of them will catch moviegoers offhand. It really is an exhilarating, smart, stylish and witty motion picture to watch.

Overall, “Knives Out” is no doubt the best movie in 2019 so far, and the way Director Johnson brought out this “Whodunit” story really stands out, along with the all-star actors and actress’ perfect performance, it’s definitely a must-see.

Picture Credit: IMDb