If we
must absolutely talk about the quality of Rian Johnson's films, we
should probably first address the elephant in the room: yes, he did,
in fact, direct one of the best, yet also most divisive, Star Wars
movies and yes, said movie probably would have been better with a
surer hand at the director's chair. The Last Jedi, despite being
pretty great from a whole usurp-the-whole-system by way of arguing
the validity of good and evil as being a matter of perspective
argument, also lacked in basic entertainment value. The space battles
were anemic and, yes, a large portion of the second act seemed to
revolve around a bunch of alien llamas which, in turn, kind of made
the movie something of a narrative mess. This, coupled with the fact
that I've officially seen all of Johnson's movies (so you wouldn't
have to), forces the most obvious conclusion: sci-fi and fantasy are
NOT Rian Johnson's better genres (see also: Looper) and he'd probably
be better off staying far away from them. Now, hard-boiled detective
or noir-level mysteries? That's something we could probably all get
behind the guy for. Case in point: Knives Out.
Yes,
Knives Out is a great movie. The cast, even Katherine Langford, is
perfect with enough nuance to make me both empathize with the
characters for their flaws and hate them for their assorted
pettiness, the plot, especially for a murder mystery, had enough
twists to stay exciting without becoming tiring and the dialog stayed
smart without being condescending. Tying all of these pros together
are an outstanding turn by Daniel Craig as the closest thing to a
Southern Hercule Poirot and Ana de Armas as a beyond reproach good
person (something most mysteries have a hard time nailing because of
the whole “Everyone Lies” motif). It not only kept me guessing
but it kept me caring until the very end. Hey, Hollywood: THIS is how
you make a mystery stick.
Unfortunately,
mostly due to an at-times wordy script, the movie will, on occasion,
dip into mundane segues that no one in any sane audience would care
about on their best day. While Benoit Blanc (Craig) and his belief in
Marta (de Armas) did serve as a backbone for a large portion of the
narrative outside of the main plot, it also tended to veer towards
obscure observations about existence for the sake of making Blanc
even more eccentric than he needed to be to actually solve the case.
I appreciate a cast of quirky and memorable characters, Johnson. You
don't have to start making references to Gravity's Rainbow when it
has NOTHING to do with the investigation.
As for
watching it, do you binge watch TV shows like the Midsomer Murders or
the Poirot Collection and wish American screenwriters had that kind
of talent? This is a movie meant to bring you hope that, not only
does that talent exists, but it desperately wants to get out. Would
you rather just shut off your brain for a few hours? They were
playing Frozen 2 in three other theaters and I'm sure there's musical
Earworm Medication that exists somewhere without the need for a
lobotomy. Choose that which makes your brain cry the least, I guess.
Rian
Johnson (Brick) goes back to what he's excelled at in the past with
Knives Out, a fun, at times completely insane, journey through greed
and murder that somehow feels like a misplaced feel-good story when
the smoke finally settles. With the death of legendary mystery writer
Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and the gathering of his
assorted viper's nest of a family for his will reading, well-known
consultant detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) arrives under
mysterious circumstances to have one last look at the case before the
police officially rule the entire thing a garden variety suicide.
Michael Shannon will play crazy, Don Johnson will play kind of
racist, Jamie Lee Curtis will play high strung, Toni Collette will
play hipster and their collective disdain/begrudging tolerance of de
Armas' Marta will come back to bite them in the most satisfying way
ever. How many other movies can make you anticipate a will reading
with a bunch of gold diggers and still be so immensely satisfied when
the ultimate realization finally happens?
My
score: 9/10. Post-Captain America Chris Evans is a national treasure
and must be protected at all costs. Someone start a freaking petition
already!
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