I will be more than happy to have more Benoit Blanc!
I was less impressed. It was a fine film in a time of superhero movies and ultraviolence… but it wasn’t an outstanding film, imo. There’s something about modern audience sensibilities that want to be told and not shown, and that somehow in a film all about telling most things but not showing everything seems (apparently, to some) amazing. But tbh i kept waiting for a bigger twist that never came.
Maybe a more succinct way of putting it was that it felt like a modern mystery box film where the ornaments decorating the box are the most interesting bits, but the mustache twirling villains are indeed the bad guys and the doe eyed heroes are indeed the good guys, and the mystery in the box was telegraphed from a mile away. It felt like an underused cast, where all they were required to do is fill a much more two dimensional type than three dimensional characters. I also found Daniel Craig’s performance consisting mostly in his constant struggle to maintain an accent. OTOH, all the actors looked like they were having a reasonably fun time not doing the same old crap over and over.
That’s exactly what I thought as well.
I thought the same at first.
I hated almost everything Rian Johnson did with The Last Jedi (especially the tone, which wholly misunderstood Star Wars) and absolutely loved Knives Out—especially the tone.
Like a donut hole waiting to reveal another donut with another donut hole, this plot just kept bubbling up with new layers & more reveals. The cheesy tone was a perfect fit for such an over-the-top plot, and I can’t recall the last time I loved a whodunnit so much. It’s up there with the very best Phoenix Wright reveals. As Tom Chick (I think?) once said of Tribes: Vengeance, this plot has “more twists than a rather twisty pretzel,” and each is delivered with such pizzazz that you can’t help cheering for the characters & the absurdity of it all.
Clearly much love went into crafting the layers of this plot.
I imagine the pitch to Daniel Craig was something along the lines of “Sure, it’s just a whodunnit. But think about how much fun we’re going to have with it! Here’s the accent you’ll get to do. Eat it up. Really chew on it. Make a delicious meal of it.” Craig’s accent is a character unto itself in Knives Out. Which is saying something, because there’s a whole cast of powerhouse acting to be had here.
And Lionsgate is officially on board:
Completely agree. I enjoyed the movie, the twists, the visual gags, and almost all the actors but Craig’s casting and lead billing is baffling. Do people really watch Bond movies because of Daniel Craig? Really?
Since this is already an explicitly political movie, I would have loved if Johnson had gone all the way and put Lakeith Stanfield in the Craig role. You have one POC as the “winner” of the film; it would have been great to have a second lead, especially if the subtext is that the villain didn’t think enough of Stanfield to uncover the real plot.
Someone on Twitter said that they should have the exact same cast as the first movie, but have them all playing completely different characters. (They did this was A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures, years ago.) I would be completely on board with this.
A sequel? How does one do a sequel to a murder mystery?
Yes2345.
Disagree. I’m not a thumbs up or down Daniel Craig as bond person, he’s okay I guess, but the series is so long in the tooth with trope that, well, put in anybody and go with it.
But this role? He jumped in and led with it. I enjoyed his character as a somewhat slow but methodical private investigator that had to solve not only the riddle of the whodunit, but also who hired him and why. I didn’t find his accent off-putting at all and in fact, loved that it rounded his character a bit making him sound somewhat buffoonish but not to be counted out. Not a Poirot but not a Clouseau either. Just the right mix to make fun of the genre, but also appreciate it, just like the entire film.
I agree that the whole cast could do this again in a different story, but I’m sure some Hollywood type would much rather just pluck who they thought was the most interesting character and try to build the success again. I wish them luck but I’m a little bearish that the formula will work as well on the second take.
Saw Logan Lucky was on Amazon Prime video and remembered this comment. Will do!
Nice!
BTW I’ve now seen Knives Out and Daniel Craig is just as wonderful in that as he is in Logan Lucky.
I would agree with this. I enjoyed it but I don’t see how people thought it was Oscar worthy.
I liked everyones performances, but I couldn’t help but think Craig was channelling Shelby Foote whenever he spoke.
Same here. It was good but I didn’t think it was great. The actors all did a good job, as one would expect from such a star studded cast. The film itself was more eccentric, than anything else.
Watched this last night and very disappointed. That the bad guy was the bad guy was pretty obvious from the get go and I’m not entirely sure the crime’s plot made sense. But that’s not the main issue. I really had no idea what the detective was supposed to be. Was he a Columbo type dude who everyone assumed was a bit mentally challenged? Cuz half the time that’s how he came across and other times he was sort of suave and witty. His tone and character was all over the place. Silliest police chase since an ep of Benny Hill. The cast was great though and seemed to be having fun so that was enjoyable. But that’s about it. I don’t generally avoid directors but I may make that choice with RJ until he proves he can write and direct again.
I think Brick is just impossible to live up to. It was an almost perfect debut.
It would be interesting, if like Soderbergh, he occasionally dabbled in films with less resources (and presumably less studio oversight).
I mean, that was the point.
I see a lot of backlash here but I really liked Knives Out, and we were particularly drawn in by Daniel Craig’s performance. And maybe the plot was obvious but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. I can see Craig’s character developing as a Poirot-like detective through a number of films. And since he’s still somewhat of a blank slate they have a lot of flexibility in how they develop his character. So at this point, I’m on board.