Knives Out (2019): A Whodunit with Wit, Class, and Razor-Sharp Writing
It's been a while since I saw a good whodunit film. And this one is a brilliant classic. Harking back to the days of Christie and Hitchcock movies, Knives Out does it with elan and panache.
In an era dominated by franchises, reboots, and superhero fatigue, Knives Out arrives like a well-timed invitation to an old-world dinner party — familiar, elegant, and unexpectedly sharp. Rian Johnson doesn’t merely imitate the Agatha Christie template; he reinvents it with confidence and mischief.
From the opening sequence — two German Shepherds (or were they Alsatians?) charging toward the camera in slow motion — the film announces its tonal assurance. This is a mystery that knows exactly what it is doing, and more importantly, what it wants the audience to feel: curiosity, amusement, suspicion, and delight.
Performances That Elevate the Genre
The pièce de résistance of course is Daniel Craig, who plays a Boston detective, with a French name and a southern drawl. What a combo! But he's done a marvelous job.
Craig’s Benoit Blanc is a stroke of inspired casting. His exaggerated accent, florid vocabulary, and theatrical pauses could easily have slipped into parody — but instead, Craig imbues the character with warmth and intelligence. Blanc feels like a detective from another era dropped into a very modern mess.
Surrounding him is a perfectly tuned ensemble cast, each member playing their part with relish. The Thrombey family is a gallery of entitlement, resentment, and moral rot — sharply written and even more sharply performed. Every interaction crackles with tension, and every smile feels suspicious.
More Than Just a Murder Mystery
What elevates Knives Out beyond genre homage is its layered storytelling. Beneath the mechanics of clue and misdirection lies a biting social satire — about privilege, inheritance, entitlement, and the quiet cruelty of the wealthy. Johnson weaponizes the whodunit format to comment on class without ever becoming preachy.
The narrative structure itself is playful, constantly reorienting the viewer’s assumptions. Just when you think the film has revealed its hand, it reshuffles the deck. The result is a story that remains engaging not just because of who did it, but how and why.
Knives Out in the Broader Cinema Landscape
If you’ve enjoyed character-driven storytelling in other films like my review of Little Women, or appreciated powerful, psychological journeys such as in The Joker, then you’ll find Knives Out a delightful balance of craft and entertainment. Even in theatre, stories that build slowly, character by character — like in Every Brilliant Thing — share the same narrative joy of layered revelation and emotional payoff.
That was the review. If you enjoy classic mysteries with a modern edge, this one is not to be missed.
Goodbye, aadab and namaste.
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