Knives Out (4 Stars)

Murder mystery write Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead with his throat slit the morning after his 85th birthday party. The police rule it a suicide, but someone claims it was a murder and anonymously hires the detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to investigate the case. The whole family, including his children, his grandchildren and his mother (!!!) were at the party, so they're all invited to be interviewed by the police and Benoit. As it turns out in the investigations, many of them had a motive for killing Harlan, but there still aren't any clues that it wasn't a suicide.

"Knives Out" was advertised as return to the old days of whodunnits and a homage to Agatha Christie. It's neither. It has the form of detective mysteries, but not the essence. In a classic whodunnit clues are strewn through the film, so that the viewer is challenged to solve the murder before the detective. Putting it another way, the viewer and the detective have to solve the case together. Not in "Knives Out". Early on, less than 30 minutes into the film, the viewer is shown in a flashback how Harlan died. The viewer knows more than the detective, so he has to watch the detective running round in circles, unable to solve the case.

The family themselves are cut out of murder mystery novels. Maybe Agatha Christie fans can identify who each of them is based on.

Benoit Blanc is obviously based on Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. What annoyed me is Daniel Craig's ridiculous fake accent. He sounds like he's trying to imitate a Texan accent. He should have used his normal voice.

Nevertheless, the film is good fun. I've heard it called one of the best films of the year, but I wouldn't go that far.