Movie Review: Knives Out (PG13 – 130 minutes)

The classic ‘whodunit’ murder mystery is a plot device that has been around literally forever.  The writer leads the audience on a chase to follow the clues, ignore the misleading red herrings, and figure out (prior to being told) who committed the crime. Agatha Christie mastered the technique and if you missed last year’s version of Murder on the Orient Express, you should check it out.

Knives Out is a modern murder mystery written and directed by Rian Johnson with an incredible cast and fabulous story.  It feels very much like a game of Clue, which I adore.  The Thrombey family is gathered at the home of Harlan, the patriarch, to celebrate his 80^th birthday.  Sometime between the end of the party and the next morning, Harlan’s throat is cut.  Because the house was filled with people, there is a large collection of suspects.  The police come by the house after the funeral two weeks later to interview everyone with the assistance of “American” investigator, Benoit Blanc, to discover exactly what happened.  Hijinks ensue.

I can’t say anything else without spoiling the movie and really, you should see this one. It is excellent. Johnson has created a funny and snarky near-perfect murder mystery with an exceptional cast. Each of them has a reason to be the murderer and the movie is crafted well enough to sweep the audience along as Blanc and the police try to determine exactly what happened.  The cast seems to be truly enjoying themselves, but not at the expense of the audience which is a pitfall of some more pretentious movies. This one seems to be a party the audience is invited to.

• Daniel Craig is the one thing I would have changed about this movie – now, that’s mainly due to my intense dislike of him.  But, why is this British man playing an American detective? Are there no other American actors that were available at the time who would have enjoyed it more?  He’s fine in the roll and while Blanc starts off as a bit aloof, eventually Craig manages to pull the audience to his side as he review the clues.

• Jamie Lee Curtis plays Linda Drysdale, Harlan’s daughter.  She had a special connection to her father and loved spending time with him in his house. 

• Don Johnson plays Richard Drysdale, Linda’s husband.  He’s not all that thrilled about the rest of the family and has no problem sharing his opinion.
• Michael Shannon plays Walt Thrombey, Harlan’s son.  He’s running Harlan’s publishing company and was asking about selling the rights to Harlan’s books to movie production companies the night of the party.

• Riki Lindhome plays Janet Thrombey, Walt’s wife. She’s underutilized here and is mainly identified as Walt’s wife and the mother of their terrible son, Jacob, played by Jaeden Martell.
• Toni Collette plays Joni Thrombey, Harlan’s daughter-in-law. She was married to his other son, but he passed away.  She’s started a ‘lifestyle’ brand after having been helped by Harlan. He’s also paying for her daughter Meg’s school.  Katherine Langford plays Meg.   

• Chris Evans plays Hugh Ransom Drysdale, Richard and Linda’s son and Harlan’s favorite grandson. He’s an absolute terrible person with no aim in life who has mainly been living on handouts from Harlan.

• Ana de Armas plays Marta, Harlan’s nurse and friend. She’s the only person he truly trusted, not only with his medicine, but with his secrets.

• LaKeith Stanfield plays Lieutenant Elliott and Noah Segan play the two police officers on the case.  Stanfield’s cop is irritated with the entire situation and Segan’s cop is really having a good time.

• Edi Patterson plays Fran, Harlan’s housekeeper, who seems to have an opinion about everything.
• Frank Oz, (yes, Frank Oz!) plays Harlan’s lawyer, Alan Stevens.  He’s there to read the will and reveal some plot-advancing news.

• K. Callan plays Great Nana Wanetta, Harlan’s mother. She’s in the house, but the family treats her like a piece of the furniture and they have no idea how old she is.

• Christopher Plummer plays Harlan and truly seems to be having more fun than anyone else, embracing the silliness of the over-the-top characters at work.

Overall, the movie is exquisitely crafted, well-acted, and incredibly fun. The thanksgiving weekend release was perfect, I went to see it with my whole family and had a great time. 

9 out of 10 – Just because I personally have to take away a point for Daniel Craig and that accent, don’t let that stop you.  That might even be your favorite thing in the movie!

There are better and more classic murder mysteries, but this one reminded me how much I loved Clue and how Tim Curry carried that nonsense all the way through.

Movie Review: 21 Bridges (R – 99 minutes)

The gritty cop drama is a genre all to itself.  It was more popular in the 70s and 80s then it is today, but every once in a while, you get a throwback.

21 Bridges starts its story with a young Andre Davis at the funeral of his father.  His father had been a police officer and was killed in the line of duty, but not before taking two of the three criminals he was fighting with him.  Years later, Andre has become a detective and the movie opens with him, and his union reps, in a meeting with Internal Affairs.  Apparently, Andre has developed a bit of a reputation as a cop that ends up with a lot of dead criminals. He maintains that he has only ever fired when fired upon, or when in mortal danger.  IA seems skeptical, but he knows he is a good cop and doing everything by the book.

That evening, we see two criminals head to a restaurant, thinking it is a front for drug dealers and that they are going to steal 50 kilos of cocaine. For some reason, there is far more cocaine when they arrive and in addition, some cops show up, very casual-like.  The criminals get into a shootout with the cops that leads to a lot of dead cops.  They go on the run, and Andre gets called in to investigate.  The head of the local police department is very happy Andre is on the case, and strongly suggests he would be fine if Andre has to kill these particular criminals.  Partnered with a DEA agent, Frankie Burns, Andre has all the bridges into Manhattan (all 21 of them) shut down to trap the killers and begins an all-night chase to find them and figure out exactly what happened. 

I like a movie that is a quick and contained piece of story. The one-night setting benefits the pacing and urgency of this movie.  It is directed by Brian Kirk, who has done mostly TV episodes up to this point, including Luther, Game of Thrones, and Penny Dreadful.  It’s dark, gritty, and makes the city seem like a maze.  The action is interesting, and the story is fine – it’s not really anything you haven’t seen before but it is well executed. 

• Chadwick Boseman sets aside Black Panther to play Andre Davis. He does a good job of wanting to be the best cop he can, despite his slightly shady experiences.  He’s good at playing a character who is sorting through the moral gray-area.

• Sienna Miller plays Frankie Burns, and I’m not entirely clear why. I am sure there was an American actress that was available that would not have had to work as hard on the New York cop accent.  She does a good enough job as a woman who may or may not be hiding something.

• J.K. Simmons plays a very J.K. Simmons-y police Captain who is distraught at losing members of his squad and needing some closure quickly.

• Stephan James plays Michael, one of the criminals who seems to be caught up by the other and may have been redeemable at the beginning of the night.  But by the end, not so much.

• Taylor Kitsch plays Ray, the criminal who is leading this operation. He thinks he has everything under control until everything starts spiraling out of control.  He does a great job of increasing panic through the night.  Both Michael and Ray could have been very one-note, but James and Kitsch manage to give them some depth.

• Keith David plays Keith David. He’s another cop who seems to be in charge of some stuff.

• Alexander Siddig shows up briefly as Adi, a money cleaner who offers some advice to the two criminals on the run.

Overall the movie is fast-paced, interesting, and well done. It’s short and feels like a throwback to cop-dramas of the past.  A couple of the performances are a little over the top and you can see some of the plot coming before it gets there, but none of that is a deterrent.  I went in expecting nothing and was pleasantly surprised.

6 out of 10 – a perfectly serviceable gritty cop-drama.

For some reason in reminded me of Enemy of the State, which I loved.