No. 34 Knives Out (2019) 83 of 100

 

This is an enjoyable murder mystery that was the first of a franchise which now stands at two films, with a third to be released in 2025. The thread through the films is Daniel Craig’s detective character Benoit Blanc who uses deduction and a funny accent to unravel cavernous crimes.

The film opens with a death. Best selling author Harlan Thromby (a fun Christopher Plummer, seen mostly in flashback) is found with a seemingly self inflicted cut to the throat. The police determine the death to be self inflicted and the family gather to have the funeral and for the will reading. Clearly that’s not a film, so Benoit shows up, having been hired anonymously to have a look into the matter.

The film’s indulgent cast all get their introductions as the police investigate the four family members who would benefit from the death – Don Johnston, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis and our man Mr Shannon as the author’s youngest son and business manager. For your money you also get turns from Chris Evans (the Captain America one) and M. Emmett Walsh as a kooky security man.

We learn from a flashback that Harlan died when his nurse Marta inadvertently gave him an overdose of morphine. Knowing his time was up Harlan concocted a scheme to let his nurse off the hook. This elaborate plan soon becomes undone with various facts and red herrings offered up to point us towards the real culprit.

The family will reading creates a big fall out when the nurse gets everything. In scenes reminiscent of ‘Greedy’ old grudges come to the fore and although decent, this film missed the outright evil of Phil Hartman.

Evans spirits Marta away and she spills the beans. He seems to help her at first but a burnt out blood testing lab and a dead blackmailer suggest that this web has been spun even wider than we first suspected.

With the cast assembled and a lot of exposition to get through, Benoit begins his summing up in true Agatha Christie style – whodunnit?

I quite liked this film but it was a bit slighter than I remembered it from my first viewing. The whole thing essentially takes place in the family mansion and a lot of the big names get very little to do. Shannon is more or less a background figure although his character walks with a limp and stick for unspecified reasons. He’s offered up as a suspect early on as his father won’t take up a lucrative Netflix deal – the irony of watching this on Amazon! This angle is however not pursued and the bearded Michael only gets to gurn and shout his disapproval a lot.

The film hinges of Daniel Craig’s character and although he is engaging I felt he lacked the presence to hold the film together. We have no backstory for him apart from him being ‘the last gentleman detective’ and his wavering accent is somewhat annoying.

He takes the side of the nurse from the start and although the family are awful he does brush over a lot of evidence and motive to try and clear her name. The nurse, played by the fetching Ana De Armas, has a heavy Macguffin character trait where she pukes up if she lies. A somewhat handy plot device for a murder mystery!

The film is well shot and edited so you are never bored. There is a lot to keep you interested but the plot and the twists employed weren’t too shocking or original and it was all a bit ‘meh’ when the big reveals came around. ‘Glass Onion’ was better but there’s no Shannon in that!

When is Shannon-On? - 06.15

Outcome? Disinherited

Film 3.5/5

Shannon Stars 3.5/5