Knives Out

Director, Rian Johnson, has something of an interesting career as a director; he found success with a string of indie films before slowly entering the mainstream with Looper and then destroyed a lot of goodwill among the Star Wars community with The Last Jedi. His next film would far and away from his previous work with a murder mystery that draws a lot from the classic Agatha Christie novels with Knives Out in 2019. Johnson taking familiar material and adding his own twist didn't workout so well in his last film but here he finds a winning formula that now has two sequels in pre-production and it could become something of a great trilogy. 

The late Christopher Plummer plays a successful crime writer who resides in an old mansion in New England and is murdered on a night when the house is filled with his extended family. Enter Daniel Craig's detective with a southern drawl who has been hired by a mysterious individual to identify the killer while the will is read out to the family, who all have their motives. 

Knives Out needed three things to work; the audience to by Craig's accent, the murder to be engaging and for the rest of the cast to hit all the right notes with their characters. Thankfully almost all three come together and Johnson had me hooked throughout the story as he gradually unfolds the mystery before a suitably dramatic conclusion. The only part I initially struggled with was Craig's accent but after several scenes I could buy it and a really great performance as he enjoys a change of pace from his work on Bond. The supporting cast with Ana de Amas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson and Michael Shannon are also fantastic, and any sequel that follows the adventures of Craig's Benoit Blanc will struggle to match such a fine ensemble. 

I'm not sure where the sequel will go next but Johnson has struck gold here with a hugely enjoyable murder mystery that is easy to recommend. The sequel will miss such a great cast but Craig is excellent here and I will be looking forward to seeing where this franchise goes next.