Stanley Scorsese’s review published on Letterboxd:
After the devastating release of The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson follows up on his original whodunnit murder mystery set in our modern political times.
Knives Out follows a Louisianan private detective being called to investigate a very wealthy and eccentric family who’s family gathering goes awry due to the death of the patriarch.
Ok, so while I’m going into this review I’m going to say this. I was skeptical to say and think that Knives Out was for sure to set in a time where the alt left and the SJWs go after everyone who has different political beliefs and opinions. Just because of the negative comments from the viewers who saw the trailer. But while I try to grasp that it wouldn’t be so bad, I didn’t find the leftist comments funny like the audience did. “I thought I came to watch a movie, not to be pounded by pro woke messages!”, I thought to myself. But wait, I thought positively. I thought while the film was portraying the family as pro liberal and was bringing our modern social commentary into a old genre wasn’t a preposterous idea. I thought maybe I could let it slide this once as good satirical material. Since there’s a surprise in the film, I don’t want to ruin it for the viewers. Now with that out of the way, let’s get to what else I thought of in Knives Out!
The acting from its cast was spot on! Daniel Craig as the Benoit Blanc was fantastic! After seeing him as James Bond, it was nice to see him play a different lead character with a thick southern accent. Especially bringing his comedic effort with slick and clever dialogue. Ana de Armas was outstanding as Marta Cabrera! Here’s a beautiful Cuban actress who has never been given a chance to shine. Her only chance was on Blade Runner 2049. But the film unexpectedly lead me to believe that her character is going to be the center of attention, and it works in the right ways. Thanks to her committed acting and comedic effort that never felt like a overused gag. And finally, Chris Evans was great for playing the spoiled and smart Ransom Drysdale! I felt this douchebag entitlement from his character, but yet, he brings some funny one liners. Including the memorable scene where he insults his entire family. But again, the entire cast were really awesome!
The writing and directing from Rian Johnson was very creative and very great! He really impressed me with this film after what the rest, including me, have thought of The Last Jedi. While he’s not a favorite of mine, I’ll say his best film, to me, was Looper. I thought it was an interesting and complex sci-fi action flick. Now I change my mind because of how intelligent and clever Knives Out was! His way of bringing a whodunnit mystery along with satire on white liberals and social commentary was really something like Get Out. So Mr. Johnson, you now have my respect!
For the negatives, I will have to say that it’s a little predictable for who the real culprit was. And I kept falling asleep on how formulaic the middle of the film was. But I managed to stay awake when it was getting excited in the the near end. Knives Out was still a pretty interesting, entertaining, and enjoyable film to watch on the Thanksgiving holidays. If some of you out there who still haven’t lost faith in film, I encourage you to watch this film.
I’m giving Knives Out 4 stars!
