Justin Peterson’s review published on Letterboxd:
Writer and Director Rian Johnson puts a twist on your typical murder mystery flick ... but I'm sorry to say that I couldn't care less.
"A donut hole in the donut's hole. But we must look a little closer."
Starting with 'Baby Driver' in 2017, there always seems to be one movie a year that everyone says is a lot of fun, that I just could not get into at all, and so far Knives Out is that movie for me for 2019. BTW in 2018 it was 'Bad Times at the El Royale'.
Don't get me wrong, Johnson's direction is solid and all the acting is good, but I simply just don't latch onto the appeal of these 'who done it' stories. I guess it's because I am not all that interested in trying to guess where the plot is going, and I would rather just relax and enjoy watching it unravel before me. I guess I should check out some of the classics of this genre like the Agatha Christie adaptations.
So while most people seem to enjoy this kind of movie, this one was just not for me.
"You have a regurgitative reaction to mistruths."
(Quick Hits) Spoilers....
- I thought Ana de Armas was great in 'Bladerunner 2049', but I never felt all that concerned for her in this. But I did love that unique shot of her in the car when she was running from the cops. What was up with her phone screen being cracked??
- I also never got invested in Daniel Craig as this southern investigator, and I thought it was dumb how the real mystery was why he was hired
- I suppose Chris Evans was an inspired bit of against type-casting
- I wish they would have given Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Shannon more to do
- I thought that revealing how Christopher Plummer's character really did commit suicide early on killed my interest in where the plot was going. And all the back and forth with Ransom trying to frame Marta was just meh
Thanks for reading.
Happy movie watching ... Skål!
