Inventive, intelligent, funny and entertaining - Rian Johnson’s all-star whodunit murder mystery is a lot of fun, and one of the best original films of 2019.

Premise: After wealthy crime-writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) gathers his extended family at his country mansion for his 85th birthday party, his housekeeper finds him dead the next morning, having apparently committed suicide. But renowned private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) suspects there is far more to the case than meets the eye.

Review:

Despite the continuing popularity of Agatha Christie adaptations (and parodies), there haven’t been many original cinematic whodunits in recent years (at least not outside of the horror genre, where films like Scream and Happy Death Day arguably share DNA with the whodunit formula). Which is what makes Knives Out such a breath of fresh air, as it manages to maintain all of the familiar elements that make the whodunit such an enjoyable sub-genre (such as the isolated location, the all-star list of suspects, the underestimated detective, and a central mystery that keeps you guessing), while also updating everything by blowing away all of the period trappings and setting the mystery unapologetically in 2019’s America.

Part of the fun of the whodunit formula is that all of the suspects (a) are played by big name stars who could all easily be the killer, and (b) are slightly archetypal characters representing the society of their time. So in Knives Out, we’re introduced to: Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), Harlan’s daughter and a “self-made” real estate mogul, Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson), Linda’s husband who married into the Thrombey empire, Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon), Harlan’s son and heir to their publishing house, Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette), Harlan’s daughter-in-law who’s become a lifestyle guru since the death of her husband, Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), the playboy son of Linda and Richard, Meg Thrombey (Katherine Langford), Joni’s liberal student daughter, and Jacob Thrombey (Jaeden Martell), Walt’s internet troll son, as well as Marta (Ana de Armas), Harlan’s nurse, Fran (Edi Patterson), Harlan’s housekeeper, and Wanetta Thrombey (K Callan), Harlan’s ancient mother and the family’s "Great Nana". This is one heck of a cast list, and everyone on it seems to be having a great time playing slightly larger-than-life characters who love to chew up the scenery whenever they’re onscreen.

“…as you’d expect from a cast of this calibre, there’s not a weak link amongst them…”

Of course, as well as an all-star list of suspects, a great mystery needs a great detective – and for the whodunit genre, the detective is often (but not always) a private or amateur detective, rather than a serving police officer. Following in the footsteps of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot comes Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a private detective whose quiet demeanour and thick southern accent often means that his intellect is underestimated by those around him (which is itself another staple of the whodunit formula). Blanc is escorted by Detective Elliot (Lakeith Stanfield), a local police officer who believes that the evidence points to Harlan having committed suicide, and State Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan), who’s a huge fan of Harlan’s mystery novels and who’s excited at the prospect of watching a real-life whodunit unfold.

As you’d expect from a cast of this calibre, there’s not a weak link amongst them, but Ana de Armas perhaps deserves a special mention given that her character (Harlan’s nurse and confidant) is the audience’s way into the mystery at the start, as we follow her when she’s called back to Harlan’s mansion as the police gather the family and staff for questioning. Following her breakout role in Blade Runner 2049, it’s great to see her given another good role to get her teeth into.

“…Rian Johnson’s smart script gives you everything you could hope for in a whodunit…”

Behind the camera, this is unquestionably Rian Johnson’s film, as he produced and directed from his own script. Although there was a somewhat mixed reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi (which I really enjoyed precisely because it tried to do something different contrary to expectations), Rian Johnson’s last “original” film, Looper, was a revelation and one of my favourite films of 2012. My expectations for Knives Out were therefore quite high, but even so, the film surprised me with just how good it was.

The central mystery gives you everything you could hope for in a whodunit, including unexpected twists that, with hindsight, you realise were staring you in the face all along. But it’s also got a black sense of humour that runs throughout the film (without ever crossing the line into parody or spoof), as well as a thoroughly modern approach to the genre that updates the usual tropes for 2019.

“…an ingenious & intellectually satisfying murder mystery in its own right…”

All in all, Rian Johnson has achieved almost the impossible – creating a whodunit mystery that not only acts as a tribute to the Agatha Christie classics, but which also can stand proudly beside them, and one that embraces humour (giving the audience a knowing wink about the genre’s clichés), while also being an ingenious and intellectually satisfying murder mystery in its own right. Certainly one of the best original films of 2019, and a film that I can imagine revisiting many times in years to come.