Cinema fun "Knives Out": Murder in the Dark

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The body doesn't come for dessert, but for breakfast: the morning after his 85th birthday, the famous crime writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead in his house. Since the writer's death apparently had no natural cause, Lieutenant Eliott (Lakeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan) begin the investigation.

But not only the police are on the property, but also private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). Hired by an anonymous client, he should also clarify the circumstances of Thrombey's death. Not a small challenge, because Thrombey's relatives and employees present a large circle of suspects.

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"Knives out - murder is a family matter" takes only a few minutes to establish this classic starting point. But the immediate familiarity of the scenario is as homely as it is deceptive, because author and director Rian Johnson has thoroughly dusted off the narrative principle of "Whodunit" and surprises in the course of the film with several unexpected twists and turns.

Of course, they shouldn't be revealed here, only this much: Johnson does not reinvent the game - he obviously likes it too much for that - but he refreshingly reinterprets the rules. And even if the plot of his crime novel is highly constructed, it unfolds with effortless elegance and remains plausible even in the craziest moments of the crime scene.

Above all, it is just fun to follow the brisk purring action. Last but not least, this is due to the outstanding cast that fills the splendidly equipped crime scene with life. Johnson does the old-school Agatha Christie adaptations like "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) or "Death on the Nile" (1978), in which one puzzled as a teenager in front of the television or even fell asleep, at least in one point the same - because he also relies on a star ensemble.

The same throws itself into the pointedly drawn roles with pleasure: Jamie Lee Curtis, for example, plays Thrombey's confident daughter Linda Drysdale, Don Johnson her conservative husband Richard and Chris Evans the son Ransom, who maintains the idle idleness. Michael Shannon, meanwhile, embodies Walt Thrombey, who ran the publishing business for his successful father and is married to Donna, played by Rikki Lindholme.

"Knives Out"
USA 2019
Written and directed by Rian Johnson
Actors: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Lakeith Stanfield, Toni Colette, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon
Production: Lionsgate et al.
Distribution: universe
FSK: from 12 years
Length: 130 minutes
Start: January 2, 2020

They also have a son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell, known from the "Es" film adaptation), who articulates himself primarily online as an anemic alt-right poison dwarf. The kinship branches further with Toni Colette as Joni Thrombey, the esoteric-enthusiastic widow of Thrombey's other son, and her free-spirited daughter Meg (Katherine Langford). And as silent as stone-old, Grandma Thrombey (K Callan) completes the family constellation.

Housekeeping Fran (Edi Patterson) and Thrombey's personal caretaker Marta, who comes from a South American immigrant family, are also (quite dramatic) staff. Ana de Armas ("Blade Runner 2049") plays the humble nurse so engagingly that she immediately appears suspicious. Which is, of course, entirely in the sense of a plot that cleverly builds on the fact that every figure is really suspected. There is no shortage of possible murderers with a motive, which is why Daniel Craig's detective Blanc has to prove that behind his flamboyant charm and the broad southern accent there is actually a brilliant mind.

Rian Johnson ("Looper", "The Last Jedi") once again shows himself to be one of the best author filmmakers in genre cinema when he lets the ingenious search for clues uncover the secrets of those involved, revealing all kinds of betrayal, resentment and conceit. Johnson's dissection of the American upper class milieu is as bitter as it is amusing, for example when the Thrombeys place Marta's origins on the world map again and again (Bolivia? Ecuador?) Or figures with a view to the legacy of the dead lose all their composure.

In the video: The trailer for "Knives Out"

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This makes "Knives Out" not only an excellent thriller, but also a very contemporary comedy about privileges, class and the willingness to symbolically or actually go over dead bodies for your own prosperity. And the moral judgment that the film makes is razor-sharp.