Knives Out Review Rotten Tomatoes



Marketing people seem to think that audiences are always hungry for something new. But what if, without realizing it, they’re actually longing for something old? Writer-director Rian Johnson’s marvelous ensemble murder mystery—and comedy—Knives Out is based on one of the most timeworn conceits in the whodunit playbook: A bunch of family members and other associates gather in an old country house after a rich patriarch or dowager dies under mysterious circumstances. They may want to find out who’s responsible for the premature death of their loved one—but generally they’re more curious to find out how much they stand to gain monetarily from the death of said loved one.

It's difficult to get a 100% certified rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, 2018's Leave No Trace managed to pull off that feat with over 200 reviews and not a single negative one. The film follows a father and his teen daughter who live in the wilderness only for a mistake to separate them. With his latest film, Knives Out, he revisits that familiar territory to spin a fun, quirky mystery about a murdered author and the gaggle of suspects who may or may not have perpetrated the crime. Knives out has a sequel in the works and unlike the double 07 movies it looks like Daniel Craig will be coming back. So let's talk about what could go down in another round of who done it right now on the ketchup. Not only is knives out certified fresh at 97 percent. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 458 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: ' Knives Out sharpens old murder-mystery tropes with a keenly assembled suspense outing that makes brilliant use of writer-director Rian Johnson's stellar ensemble.' I have NEVER put much, if anything, in to what Rotten Tomatoes ever says. Especially with alot of the last few years of bigger name movies where they were proven wrong on at the box-office.

Apps for mac os x server. That’s the basic plot of Knives Out, approximately as modern as the novels that Agatha Christie began writing roughly 100 years ago and continued to produce almost until her death, in 1976. But Johnson has taken the essential formula and made it his own. The picture is a delight, but even if it offers some nostalgic pleasures, it’s also attuned to all the worries and, worse, the thoughtlessness that characterize the modern world.

Crabby but sensible old codger Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) has amassed a fortune from his career as a prolific writer of mysteries. Then, on the morning after his 85th birthday, he’s found dead, apparently by his own hand. The last person to see him alive was the woman hired to care for him, a nurse named Marta (Ana de Armas), a Latina immigrant whose family depends on her job. Harlan had always adored Marta, and those in his immediate orbit claim to love her too: His daughter, crisp-mannered businesswoman Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and son, earnest but hapless Walt (Michael Shannon), sing her praises. Joni (Toni Collette), a somewhat shallow lifestyle guru who’s the widow of another son, also heartily approves.

Everybody loudly proclaims how great Marta is, though it’s questionable whether any of them have even gotten to know her. Then the police (played by LaKeith Stanfield and Noah Segan) show up to begin questioning the family. A celebrity detective with a buttery Southern drawl and the delectable name of Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig, clearly having a blast) has also been brought in to oversee the proceedings. He watches wryly as the extended family—including Linda’s silky-slimy husband Richard (Don Johnson) and Harlan’s spoiled grandkid Ransom (Chris Evans)—spin their own narrative of the night’s events, tilting suspicion heavily toward Marta.

The plot of Knives Out is enjoyably, wackily serpentine. Even if you’ve already guessed who hasn’t dunnit, it won’t be easy to figure out who has. The movie’s pleasures lie in the way these characters, each of them well-defined, square off against one another even when they’re pretending to be on the same side. Knives Out is filled with deceit, greed, blackmail, overall unpleasantness—and it’s funny. One character, upon being introduced to Mr. Blanc, blurts out, “I read a Tweet about a New Yorker article about you!” There’s more wit here than in most of Johnson’s movies, although it’s worth noting that his last picture, the 2017Star Wars: Episode VIII—The Last Jedi, was the best of the recent Star Wars movies, a franchise picture that felt as if it were made by a human being, not a committee.

Knives Out also shows the human touch: The ensemble cast is terrific—these actors make it look as if the movie were a lark to make. De Armas, who was surprisingly memorable as a hologram-wife in Denis Villeneuve’sBlade Runner 2049, brings sharply focused subtlety to her role here. In a movie filled with intentionally and often comically broad characters, she’s playing a person, not a type. Marta doesn’t radiate virtuousness as a character trait; kindness just finds its way out as she moves and breathes.

As entertaining as Knives Out is, there’s a lot rippling beneath the surface. One of its ideas is that immigrants, people who have chosen to live in America and have had to make sacrifices to do so, often make better Americans than people who were born here. And for all its clever, delightful trickiness, Knives Out is completely straightforward about one thing: It shows the utmost respect for science and for people who know what they’re doing. This is a movie in which expertise and good sense win the day; no one is rewarded for stupidity or cruelty. And in that sense, Knives Out isn’t just a beautifully made diversion. It’s also a utopian vision.

Knives

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.

Thank you!

For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.
Read Next
Next Up: Editor's Pick
EDIT POST
By/Sept. 9, 2019 4:43 pm EDT

Where To Watch Knives Out

Get ready to get your cash out for Knives Out.

The first reviews for the film are in, and they're more than enough motivation for you to score your ticket for an opening-night screening ASAP.

Written and directed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson, Knives Out debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 7 to high praise. The flick — a black comedy murder mystery that follows a pair of detectives (Daniel Craig and Lakeith Stanfield) as they investigate the suspicious death of wealthy novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and probe the many members of his dysfunctional family in the process — sits at a flawless 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, well over two months ahead of its theatrical premiere.

Danielle Solzman of Solzy at the Movies gave Knives Out a perfect score, calling it 'one of the best laugh riots in 2019' and 'a hysterical whodunnit for a new generation of movie lovers.' She also praised the performances from Craig (whom she argued 'gives us his best Southern accent' as Detective Benoit Blanc), Jamie Lee Curtis (who 'does amazing work for laughs by delivering a deadpan performance' as Linda Drysdale-Thrombrey), and Ana de Armas (who can 'hold her own' alongside her decorated co-stars while playing Marta, Harlan's caregiver).

Slashfilm's Chris Evangelista also predicted that Knives Out will land on many best-of-the-year lists when it hits theaters in November. His review of the film — which he called 'hilarious, clever, and endlessly entertaining' — reads in part, 'The game's afoot and everyone's a suspect in Knives Out, Rian Johnson's deliriously funny whodunit. It's the most fun you'll ever have trying to solve a murder. Gathering together a killer cast of movie stars and character actors, Johnson has crafted a film that's both a loving homage to locked room mysteries and a giddy, laugh-out-loud funny comedy that keeps pulling the rug out from under you just when you think you've found your footing. It's a total blast.'

Evangelista also gave kudos to Johnson's direction, which he felt was tight and trim without any superfluous stuff kept in, that made for an incredible viewing experience: 'Johnson's assured direction — quick cuts, characters bathed in shadow, and an ability to truly let a punchline land — is coupled with Steve Yedlin's inky, foggy, gorgeous cinematography, adding visual flair to an already enjoyable experience. I left the theater feeling absolutely giddy, and eager to see it again as soon as possible. Slicex vst for mac. Bet on it: Knives Out is one of the year's most entertaining films.'

Knives Out Review Rotten Tomatoes

Writing for Collider, critic Adam Chitwood said that 'the world needs more movies like Knives Out,' which he described as a 'supremely entertaining whodunit [that's] one part Agatha Christie mystery, one part Hitchcock thriller, and one part broad comedy.' He praised Johnson's creative vision and execution of it, applauded the star-studded cast, and echoed Evangelista in saying that Knives Out is one of the best and most enjoyable movies of 2019 that shakes up the superhero-and-horror-filled box office with something wholly unique.

RottenKnives Out Review Rotten Tomatoes

'While Knives Out is thematically rich, technically astounding, and superbly acted, it's also just a complete and total blast of a movie. This is a film that's designed to be enjoyed in a packed theater, surrounded by strangers sharing in the twists, turns, and hilarity that ensues,' wrote Chitwood. 'This is an original story with no explosions, space ships, or aliens, just extremely talented actors in rooms spouting words written by one guy. And yet it's one of the most purely satisfying and enjoyable moviegoing experiences I've had in recent memory.'

Charles Bramesco of The Playlist especially liked how quickly Knives Out gets to the meat of things — 'Johnson's script briskly and efficiently introduces the major players in a murder investigation most foul, then assigns them each a plausible motive for the killing of mystery novelist Harlan Thrombrey,' he wrote — and what it has to say about our modern society. Argued Bramesco, 'Everyone knows rich people have weak moral fiber, but Johnson sees how that weakness comes from fear, which comes from the knowledge of how precarious their station in life really is .. There's so much to love about Johnson's triumph, both as gratuitously enjoyable entertainment and the first film to take on the significance of a President Trump without lapsing into corny preachiness.'

He also added that Knives Out serves as a rejoinder to the backlash Johnson received for his work on The Last Jedi: 'This film has been palpably informed by the amount of time that Johnson spends on Twitter, and in no small way, it doubles as a bracing f***-you to the sort of cretins that have been harassing him ever since he went to the galaxy far, far away.'

Elsewhere, David Rooney at The Hollywood Reporter called Knives Out 'a treat from start to finish'; RogerEbert.com Mix master for mac. 's Brian Tallerico said that Johnson directs his 'wildly charismatic' cast with complete confidence to always stay 'a step or two ahead of his audience, leaving them breathless but satisfied at the end'; and A.A. Dowd at The A.V. Club praised the film as not just 'deviously intelligent but also consistently gut-busting, and an impeccably crafted blast of Hollywood entertainment, built around several exceptional (and juicily venomous) performances.'

Knives Out Movie Review Critics

Since Knives Out is currently without any negative reviews logged in Rotten Tomatoes, there's nothing bad we can say about the film. This will probably change when the film opens in theaters — given that it's incredibly rare for films to maintain a perfect critical score on the review aggregator — but it's clear that Knives Out is a movie that's so easy to love and so tough to find any flaws in.

Rotten Tomatoes Review Of Knives Out

Knives Out — which also stars Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Katherine Langford, and Jaeden Martell — is due out on November 27.