Updated: Feb 25, 2020
Amongst all the hype for Frozen II and Star Wars Episode IX, Knives Out stood out as a successful original film that wasn’t under Disney’s large film monopoly. A take on the forgotten genre of campy whodunits, Knives Out invites viewers into a witty and wacky, yet surprisingly mature, adventure through the death and investigation of Harlan Thrombey. Thrombey, the mystery writer and eccentric millionaire whose death starts Arts & Entertainment the entire affair, hosts a family that is more or less straight from his own novels, which allows for the story to go in multiple hysterical and fascinating directions.
Even when you truly think you figured it out, Knives Out challenges you to think again and again before making your final decision. Following Daniel Craig as Private Detective Benoit Blanc and Ana de Armas as the late Thrombey’s nurse Marta Cabrera, the story twists and turns through a quick-witted critique of modern issues and human selfishness. Although the film is well shot, well scripted and wonderfully cast, one small critique was the overuse of Miss Cabrera’s propensity to vomit any time she attempted to lie. While the gag served as a great lie detector and a clue into what the family of Harlan Thrombey was really like, it was more than unpleasant to see the chunks spewed on screen so many times. There was one vomit scene that was rewarding to witness, but just like the truth behind Harlan Thrombey’s death, that is for you to discover when you check out Knives Out for yourself.
By Savi Swiggard, Associate Editor