Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out a mystery film from 2019. That movie is "Knives Out".
So...I have a little bit of a story about this one. See, way back when, I had no idea that this movie even existed, right up until I stumbled upon a trailer for it on YouTube. And I remember the trailer for it looking pretty good, so if I ever ended up finding a physical copy of it, I would cover it for this series at some point. And eventually, I did end up finding a copy of it at one of my local video stores one day. I even considered it as a potential candidate for episode 200, however, I did end up finding something else that would ultimately replace it, that of course being "Belle".
And that kinda leads into the reason as to why I didn't decide cover this thing until now. See, the main reason was simply because...I had completely forgotten about it. No seriously, I totally forgot that I even bought a copy of this thing, and because of that, more interesting movies caught my attention, and this thing was eventually put on the back burner until I had completely forgotten about it. And then one day, as I was going through my shelf of movies that I had, which was a combination of movies that I had already bought for myself and stuff that I would cover for Reaction & Review, I then noticed that I had this movie, completely hidden from me for a long time, and that's when I *finally* decided to get around to it and put it on the schedule for this month. And I guess the timing of it was sorta perfect, considering that there's already a sequel, plus a third movie that was recently announced. Now I can't promise that I'll actually ever cover those movies, I just gotta get through this one first.
Now the main reason why I wanted to cover this movie was mainly because it was a mystery comedy film, as what I remembered from the trailer that I watched. And it reminded me a lot of "Clue: The Movie", and as some of you may know, I love that thing so much. So this movie could potentially meet those standards of being really funny. The only thing that I'm kinda leery about is the fact that it was written and directed Rian Johnson. Now admittedly, I haven't really seen any of his other films that he directed, but I do know that he was the one responsible for writing one of the Disney "Star Wars" movies, which I believe was "The Last Jedi". Which is also considered the worst outing from the sequel series. So, there is that. However, seeing as how "Star Wars" hasn't been relevant since it's heyday in the 80's, I can still pretend that anything beyond that series doesn't exist in my eyes.
Anyway, I probably should stop rambling on here about "Star Wars". I should be focusing on this movie, and I'm hoping for it to be good. But I really won't know for myself unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Knives Out".
19 minutes later
OK, guys, I totally understand that this has nothing to do with the movie itself, but I gotta know something. What the hell is up with Daniel Craig's eyes? For some reason, his eyes look brightly colored when compared to everyone else, since they have normal-looking eyes. Perhaps maybe he might've had those in the Bond films, but it's kinda bugging me for some reason, you know what I mean?
20 minutes later
All right, guys, I need to ask this. I mentioned earlier that this movie was suppose to be a mystery comedy, so I need to ask: When does the comedy part of the film start to kick in? I'm not saying that as a shot at the movie, because the movie's been pretty decent so far, but I'm not really getting any laughs out of it. It might happen later, but the humor really hasn't landed at all yet, and I'm hoping that it does soon.
19 minutes later
OK, I need to ask this, because this is really starting to bug me now. So, Marta has been trying to cover her tracks now for the better part of about...maybe 5 minutes or so. And I should mention that she's been with Detective Benoit and the two policeman on their investigation in order to uncover Thrombey's murder, and just a moment ago, she secretly ejected the security tape and gave it to one of the policeman to hold onto. What the hell is gonna stop *any* of them from going back and checking the security tapes? And she just purposely tried to cover her tracks from the other night so that she wouldn't be suspected! I'm gonna tell you, guys, she's doing a *really* piss-poor job of covering her own tracks and I'm not gonna feel sorry whatsoever for her if or when she eventually gets caught.
20 minutes later
You know, guys, I *really* wish that I had more to say about this movie, but unfortunately, it's really not giving me a whole lot to work with here. It's becoming rather dull, and I'm not sure if it's actually going to get any better for the next hour and 10 minutes or so.
20 minutes later
So...we have a second character die from a morphine overdose. And I do believe she was also a member of the Thrombey's as well. And as much as I'd like to say that I care about any of this...I don't. Quite frankly, guys, I have already begun to lose interest in this story. And at this point, I'm kinda just hoping that the film will end soon, and I know that won't happen, because there's still another 50 minutes or so left of this film to go.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Knives Out". Let me go ahead and shut the film off here...OK. Well, um...hmm, where to begin with this one?
You know, I don't really know what the hell I even saw back when I first watched that trailer. I really thought, again, that it was going to be some kind of mystery comedy film that's kinda similar to "Clue: The Movie". And, well, there is a murder mystery here, but, well...without going into spoilers here, I will say that my assumption on this thing being a comedy was a flat out lie. Because there is almost no comedy to be found here. I can, maybe, find a sprinkle of it here and there, but ultimately, the film wanted to take itself seriously. And that's fine, but to me...it kinda puts a damper on the entirety of the movie's tone. And it kinda took me out of the experience of the movie. Now let me be clear on something: The movie itself isn't bad. In fact, there's definitely substance to be found here. But unfortunately, it's just substance that I don't really care for. I'm gonna get more into that in a second, but I just wanted to let you know guys ahead of time that if you were expecting this movie to be a comedy...you're gonna be sorely disappointed. And that's probably my fault, because the trailer I watched presented itself in that kind of fashion. But still, don't really expect any comedy from this movie.
So now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's actually talk about the film itself here. I'm gonna start with writing. And the writing here is...OK, at best. So, I want to talk about how this film is set-up. Now as I just mentioned, there is a murder mystery that's suppose to be played out here. At least, on the surface that is. In which, Harlan Thrombey, is killed. And our detective, Benoit Blanc, believes that one of the family members is responsible for the murder, and is trying to figure out who did it. So yeah, it's a pretty simple premise, but like I said, it's only on the surface that it tries to be a murder mystery. However...that's when we're introduced to our main character, Marta Cabrera, who is Harlan's nurse. And it's revealed pretty early on that she killed him with a morphine overdose, despite it being accidental. And because of this, Harlan goes into great detail on what Marta should do before he dies so that her tracks are covered and that she won't be suspected of murdering him. And that's basically how a great portion of the film is played out, in which she tries to avoid getting found out by Detective Benoit, while he is busy inspecting how the murder played out. And to be perfectly honest, it's not really that interesting because it strays away from the murder mystery aspect and into Marta trying to avoid being found out. And, like I said, it's pretty much like that for a good while of the film.
Now I would probably find that part really interesting, if her character was at all interesting...and it's not. However, I'll get to her in a second. All of the Harlan family members are unlikable. And I believe that was intentional, because all of them sound pissed and confused when they later find out that they're not going to inherit anything that Harlan leaves behind in his will, and instead Marta is going to get it all. And long before that, all of them are presented as being very unlikable, and you get that feeling from them from their interactions. With Marta, though, she really has no kind of interesting personality or background to her character. The only thing you really know about her is that she and her family came into America illegally and they're living as illegal immigrants, and she fears that her family is going to get deported if they get found out that they came into the country illegally. And again, I'd find that aspect of her character to be interesting if she, herself, was actually a fleshed out character, but she's not. She's really one dimensional in terms of personality and is also kind of an idiot in trying to cover tracks, since she does it so poorly. The only character who I felt had any kind of personality was Detective Benoit, and I'm mostly gonna attribute that to the acting, which I'll get to in a second here.
But anyway, guys, the writing here isn't exactly great. However, I can't really say that it's poorly written, because, like I said, there is substance here. It's just substance that I personally can't get myself into. And I can appreciate the film wanting to go in a different direction with it's murder mystery, however, it's not really the kind of direction that I personally wanted the film to go into. But anyway, with that said, let's delve into the acting. And I'm gonna say that, despite my problems I had with the story, the acting is really solid from the entire cast. Everyone put in 110%, and it shows. The best actor, by far, has to go to Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. He absolutely brings so much charisma to this character that it makes sense as to why he's the star of the film. And if you were one of those people that didn't like his portrayal as James Bond, I would definitely say that his performance here stands out far better than what he did as Bond. He really is very comfortable in the role and is having a blast with it. Same goes for the entire cast. All of them turned in great showings. Not a single one I could recall phoned it in or didn't sound like they cared. Each one of them had enough material to work with their roles, which is why they were able to turn in awesome showings. So yeah, guys, the acting here is great.
Costuming here is done really well. Admittedly, and this is just a minor nitpick, I don't feel like the costumes that they were wearing feel as colorful as what's shown on the DVD and Blu-ray case. It feels like when you're watching them wearing it in action, the colors look like they're darker than usual. And I don't really see any hint of green that Daniel Craig was suppose to be wearing in this movie. However, you would really have to stretch it in order to make it an issue. I kinda noticed it as I was watching, so really, it's just something that you have to take for what it's worth.
Everything else here is really good here, too. I'm talking about everything involving camerawork, lighting, sound-mix, and even the score is also really good, too. Mind you, I don't think it's something that you would have to, like, download or anything, but it is still worth listening to, at least once. So yeah, technical wise, the movie looks and sounds great. But then again, it is also from Lionsgate, and considering that they are a big time studio, I wouldn't expect them to mess any of that up, unless they went out of their way to do something like that. But otherwise, guys, the technical stuff here is perfectly fine.
So yeah, on the surface, almost everything here works. But what kinda falters it a bit is the main aspect of almost every movie: the writing. So with that said, am I able to recommend "Knives Out"? Personally speaking, probably not. Like I said, the writing here isn't as good as I was hoping for it to be, what with the story being kinda weak and our main character being pretty flat and boring. The only character that kinda saves it a bit is Daniel Craig's character, since he is sort of the main reason to watch this movie. However, I can't guarantee that for everyone else who might be interested in this film. For myself, personally, I was rather disappointed by it. I really wanted to like it more, however, the expectations I had for it kinda shot it down of being great. Now I totally get that I'm in minority on this one since, well, a lot of other people liked it more than I did. However, I'm giving out my honest opinion of whatever movie I review, regardless of it's status. And for me, it just didn't land well. Now, would I ever cover the other sequels? Um...I don't know. I would really have to think about it, seeing as how this one didn't exactly win me over. If I ever do, it's probably not gonna happen anytime soon. So...with that said, I feel like I need to watch something better. And since I mentioned "Clue: The Movie" at the start of this thing, I'm gonna go and watch that again right now, because, to me, it's one of the best mystery films ever made. So I'm gonna go and do that next after I get done typing this review up.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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