Knives Out Rian Johnson Brings Out the Cannons in his Revenge Tour Grade: A-

Source: IMDB

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Friday shopping to all readers and supporters! Had a nice Thanksgiving, along with doing some early Christmas shopping for friends/family and myself. Yaw ready know I had to cop that Midsommar May Queen A24 shirt on this lovely Black Friday... I’ve ran out of money. Knives Out is an ole fashion who dun it film. The film is based around the Thrombey family, whom are filthy rich as the head of the family Harlan (Christopher Plummer) is well known for his novels. Harlan dies off an acclaimed suicide, on the night of his own party... But well skilled detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) thinks otherwise, as he does not count out any suspects whom were there that night. The Cinematography looked pretty good honestly, lots of terrific shots. Including great shots inside and outside of the mansion, one haunting shot in a dark deserted room, and excellent camera work on a great car chase scene as well. The set design was absolutely terrific, it really gives this film a personality, follow by lovely costume design as well. I enjoyed the Score, felt very classical for my taste. The cast in this film all in all were terrific as I do believe this should be nominated for Best Ensemble Cast for a SAG... I’m dead serious and I don’t think anyone would go against my vote. The star of this entire film is no doubt Daniel Craig playing the Detective of this film... He was flat out fantastic, this maybe the best performance he has ever done in his entire career. One may compare this great performance to his past performances in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Defiance, throw in Casino Royale, and Logan Lucky... JOE BANG! But I do believe this is his best work by far, he understands what the audience want out of a detective and Daniel Craig just goes one hundred percent in this role. I mean for crying out loud that accent... It’s such an odd and unfamiliar choice by Craig... But he plays it to almost like perfection, where you’re floored from start to finish. Daniel Craig delivers a flat out entertaining performance with this character and also brings a lot of laughs with it as well, in the best way possible. I must say it: #DanielCraigOscarNom2020 Campaign has officially LAUNCHED for me. Ana De Armas plays the caretaker Marta and she’s really good in this performance as the surprising lead in this film. I enjoyed Marta as a character in this film, very sweet and honest human being whom you just want to give a hug and beat up the family for giving her a hard time. But I also love how this film plays with this character as a suspect... It’s actually done really well, you’ll understand what I’m talking about once you see it. Now that Chris Evans is done playing in Marvel movies (Thank God, let the dude act in other movies), I was curious to see how he would take on a new role for a change. This is the second film post Marvel for Chris Evans: First being The Red Sea Diving Resort which I haven’t seen yet and who knows if I ever will. Chris Evans is actually great in this role as the grand son Ransom, he was hilarious and flat out devious as well. I do have a flaw with this character and requires spoiling, so I’ll keep that in my back pocket for now, besides that this was a great douchebag character. There’s a lot of really good supporting performances in this film. I enjoyed the Thrombey family a lot including the following. Michael Shannon is really good as the grand son, Toni Collette was really good as always as the grand daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis was pretty good as the daughter, and Katherine Langford was pretty good as well as Toni’s daughter in the film. Surprisingly enough: The detective had a couple helpers to help him out and they were both awesome too. I always praise LaKeith Stanfield in pretty much everything he has done, but yet again he’s great as the detective assistant too. I was surprised with the detectives other assistant: Noah Segan was pretty good as Trooper Wagner, I honestly thought he was a nice comedic relief, I didn’t expect much from this character going in. So another flaw I have to add is I didn’t like Jaeden Martell’s character in this film, I thought he was pretty pointless as the millennial twitter joke was... Boring. Rian Johnson coming off a mediocre dud like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which made people stop caring about Star Wars for good. Now we can look at this in two ways: 1. Maybe just maybe Star Wars wasn’t meant for Rian Johnson?! Disney restricts artists from creating art, who knows man. Besides I liked Looper and people seem to think Brick was great, maybe he’s better at making real movies? 2. Maybe Rian Johnson is a hero for butchering Star Wars, to the point where people honestly aren’t as hyped as they once were. I’m not a fan of Star Wars, but I can tell you modern day Star Wars is a big waste of time... Yeah yeah cry you man children, I don’t care. Rian Johnson’s Revenge Tour Knives Out was absolutely outstanding, this one of my top favorites of the year. I love a good mystery who dun it film and I gotta tell ya: This has everything I want out of one. It’s suspenseful, intense, dramatic, and absolutely hilarious... One can never be bored one second of this film, non stop entertainment from start to finish. I felt the mystery side of the film remains consistent for the most part. The film gives away a good amount of information you would never see till maybe the end of the second act, but this film gives it to you right away at the end of the first act. While you think you know everything, the film takes a big turn in the third act, as it was surprisingly clever as I didn’t see that coming. Sure my second guess of whom killed Harlan was correct, but I didn’t expect it to go down the way it did in the end, as it felt refreshing and new for a change in this type of genre of film. I felt the story was excellent, sets the tone, moves rapidly as your engaged without blinking for one second, as you refuse to go to the bathroom until the deed is done... It is that kind of film you just don’t want to miss not even one second. Overall, Knives Out is an excellent film. I highly recommend this film, definitely take the whole family to see it, it’s a BLAST! I watched this opening night in a packed theater, where everyone was truly engaged what they were watching and didn’t make any noise... It was a near perfect environment for this type of experience! -Mitch Smietana