It’s an A-list whodunit in Knives Out, the latest from writer/director Rian Johnson.
When the patriarch of a wealthy family dies unexpectedly, two detectives must sift through the bickering family, numerous servants, and the sprawling estate to determine his cause of death. It’s a setup that would make Agatha Christie proud, and since we’ve all seen this premise before, I’m sure you can figure out the gist of where it will go. This does seem to be leaning more on the comedic side of this genre, though; not quite to the level of Clue, but if someone doesn’t crack a joke about the inevitability of death with all those knives around, I’ll walk out of the theater a little disappointed.
Squeezed in between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and his upcoming trilogy of Star Wars films, Knives Out counts as a breezy lark for Johnson. As The Last Jedi proved, you can’t make a Star Wars film without a hell of a lot of scrutiny. Even with a seemingly sizable budget and lots of bankable stars, Knives Out isn’t a project that’s going to break anyone’s heart. Johnson can pretty much do what he wants with this, and from the trailer it looks like he’s just having fun with the concept.
And he’s not alone breaking away from high-pressure franchises. Chris Evans and Daniel Craig are shedding their rather serious MCU and Bond personas while a ton of their co-stars are famous enough to demand being listed: Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, LaKeith Stanfield, and Christopher Plummer.
With so many talented people seemingly taking a load off, Knives Out should be a rollicking murder mystery.
Knives Out is directed by Rian Johnson and stars an drool-worthy list of people (but top billing goes to Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas). It will be released in the US on November 27th, 2019 and in the UK on November 29th, 2019. For international release dates, click here.
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