9
votes
Knives Out - Discussion thread
Who has seen this movie yet?
Previous discussion of the trailer is here.
Edit:
8.31/10 on Rotten Tomatoes
8.1/10 on IMDB
Who has seen this movie yet?
Previous discussion of the trailer is here.
Edit:
8.31/10 on Rotten Tomatoes
8.1/10 on IMDB
So many movies have tired, rehashed, obvious plot twists.
For the first 20-30 minutes I thought this was another one.
But then the movie kept on getting better. And better. And better.
Is it a thriller? A comedy? A who-dunnit? Yes.
There are only a couple of contrived moments, but I didn't think of them until after the wild ride was over.
Great cinematography, great plot, solid acting. I would watch this one again.
I would watch this again for sure. There are so many details that i'm sure i would get a lot out of it on a second viewing, and the cinematography was beautiful.
It is very quotable. Blanc's bagging on the Nazi kid has been running through my head since I left the theater.
The plot is great, but my only complaints about the movie would be about the plot. On a second viewing, maybe that would change. At times it felt pretty ridiculous, but these kinds of mysteries rely on toeing the line of withholding information and the detective making hard to believe deductions, so there's always something to complain about, and this wasn't different in that regard. I love the cozy mystery genre, so I'm very cool with that, though I know it can never be done in a way that suits everyone.
(Spoilers) My only qualm with the plot right now.
Maybe it was just late and I have a hard time following these kinds of flippity-flops, but the mini-mystery in the middle of where the toxicology report came from and ended up, and the murder that happened in the middle of that, all felt convoluted. I also stopped caring a bit when Fran got involved, mostly because I did not feel attached to her character at all and couldn't help thinking "Wait, she's involved? Who was that again?"Probably my favorite Christie-esque aspect was, of course, Blanc. In particular I loved that he has a heart and ethics above the law, like Poirot (I'm thinking of the ending of Orient Express here).
Overall, I definitely felt like I was watching an Agatha Christie novel come to life in our moment (though with better politics), and that's what mattered to me most.
I thought it was a fun movie. The performances were great and I loved Frank Oz as the annoyed probate lawyer.
My only complaint is that I think the scene where
SPOILERS
Blanc explains his theory about how Ransom did it at the end
goes on for a little too long. It sort of brought the movie to a halt right. But I guess it’s just part of the genre trope.
I would have preferred the plot be deductable from what was on screen. The 5 minute explanation from Blanc at the end shouldn't be necessary in order to understand what happened. The worst offense, which was so tricky I'm sure it was a joke, was the confusion of "you did this" with "Hugh did this" with the nickname of Hugh never before getting mentioned.
Besides all that, it's a fun movie. It surprised me with the early giveaway and the subsequent twists.
Blanc did only rely on information the audience also knew. Was that enough?
Major Spoiler
Ransom says at the beginning that only "the help" calls him HughIt was mentioned.
Thanks for letting me know. That makes it much more reasonable.