Knives Out Movie Review (without spoilers):

Writing this review in detail is impossible without giving away spoilers. But I still managed to write this one, it is going to be as abstract and convincing as it can get and it will have no spoilers. Promise.

Writer-director Rian Johnson's good old murder-mystery - one of the best films this year - with a very powerful star cast, is an eye candy swathing in multiple layers of drama, comedy and suspense.

Infamously, and very controversially known for directing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson has delivered a fresh, funny, blockbuster that seamlessly plays with your head. It doesn't unfold the way you expect it to. It's well-timed, meticulously-crafted and beautifully shot by Steve Yedlin, and is power packed with performances from: Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Craig (what’s with his voice?), Ana de Armas (possibly the MVP of the whole movie), Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, Lakeith Stanfield, Chris Evans (being high key unconventional), Edi Patterson, and - obviously Noah Segan. As with most ensemble casts, some actors don’t get as much screen time as they should, and the problem persists here. However, while Johnson's plot is playing out in nearly predictable ways his characters are so mesmerising that you often get sidetracked, by design - because of their great performances. Knives Out is a movie that stars everyone in it. It is also homage to legendary Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie. Therefore, the setting is in an old, rustic, grandly designed Rockefeller estate, a character in itself. It's beauty is in the details like the manifestation of Harlan's crime-writing mind and at the center of it all is a chairmade of knives that point directly at the head of whoever sits in it.

Special mention of Daniel Craig as well, the internet is going crazy over him as Detective Benoit Blanc, but that’s not surprising. Look out for Ana de Armas, her accent is so beguilingly soothing and her performance one of a kind. Christoper Plummer, whose career has spanned nearly six decades is our main man, around whom the entire suspense revolves. When the crime novelist, Harlan Thrombey dies just after his 85th birthday, an inquisitive Detective Benoit Blanc arrives at his estate to investigate. He soon sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind the writer's untimely death. A few times you might feel like you're on the verge of discovery, but as soon as you start to fit the pieces together, a new gap appears.

When it’s actually over, with Johnson’s dramatic climax and some outstandingly iconic final shots, you’ll unpack his creativity like a detective yourself, marvelling at not just how the details of what happened in the story revealed themselves, but the social message subtly embedded in all of it.

Rating : 4/5