Rian Johnson’s Knives Out opens with a death and spends the next two hours making sure you never trust a single person who mourns it. The 2019 film runs 131 minutes and hands Daniel Craig a Southern drawl, a linen wardrobe, and the best excuse for a detective since the genre stopped bothering to have fun. It is a comedy, a crime story, and a mystery at once.
Trailer, via Lionsgate Movies.
A Body at the Thrombey Estate
Harlan Thrombey, a renowned crime novelist, is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday. Christopher Plummer plays him, and the film wastes no time turning his family into a lineup of suspects. Detective Benoit Blanc, played by Craig, is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.
Nobody explains who hired Blanc. That gap is the engine the whole plot runs on. He sifts through the Thrombey household: Harlan’s dysfunctional family on one side, his devoted staff on the other. The tagline says it plainly — “Hell, any of them could have done it.”
That is the promise, and Johnson keeps it. Red herrings pile up. Self-serving lies pile up faster. Blanc works through both.
Craig, de Armas, and the Drysdale Wing
The cast is deep and nobody is wasted. Jamie Lee Curtis is Linda Drysdale. Michael Shannon is Walt Thrombey. Don Johnson is Richard Drysdale. Toni Collette is Joni Thrombey. Chris Evans plays Ransom Drysdale, and the film lets him be a different kind of unpleasant than the Captain America years allowed.
Ana de Armas is Marta Cabrera, Harlan’s nurse. She is the film’s center of gravity. LaKeith Stanfield plays Lieutenant Elliott. Katherine Langford is Meg Thrombey, Jaeden Martell is Jacob Thrombey, Riki Lindhome is Donna Thrombey. Every one of them has a motive and a version of events.
The mystery works because the film gives Marta a specific, uncomfortable mechanic to live inside, and de Armas plays it without a false note. Craig is having the most fun he has had on screen in years. Blanc is inquisitive and debonair, and Craig plays both without winking.
A Franchise Built on Radiohead and U2
Knives Out is the first of a series. Johnson created it, writes it, directs it, and co-produces all three films. Each entry follows a different group of people caught in a classic whodunnit, with Benoit Blanc as the only recurring character across the three. That is a rare structural choice — most franchises keep the hero and rotate the villain.
The naming convention is a running joke with a real rule behind it. Each film takes its title from a song by a rock band from the British and Irish Isles. Knives Out comes from Radiohead. Glass Onion comes from The Beatles. Wake Up Dead Man comes from U2.
| Film | Title source | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Knives Out (2019) | “Knives Out” | Radiohead |
| Glass Onion | “Glass Onion” | The Beatles |
| Wake Up Dead Man | “Wake Up Dead Man” | U2 |
Johnson’s closest collaborators show up in small parts. Noah Segan appears in small roles across the films. Joseph Gordon-Levitt appears in cameos. The wider cast across the series includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Josh O’Connor, and Glenn Close.
What the Numbers Say
All three films received strong positive reception from critics and audiences, with praise aimed at the screenplays, the direction, and the acting. The series has grossed a combined $327.8 million worldwide.
Key facts
- Title: Knives Out
- Year: 2019
- Director and writer: Rian Johnson
- Runtime: 131 minutes
- Genres: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
- Tagline: “Hell, any of them could have done it.”
- Score: 8.2/10 (Metacritic 82/100)
- Series gross (all three films): $327.8 million worldwide
The score is the published critical figure, and it lands where it should. Knives Out is not a perfect film. Its middle stretch lets a few Thrombey family members blur together, and its affection for its own cleverness occasionally shows. But the screenplay is tight, the direction is confident, and the acting is the reason any of it holds.
What matters most is the casting of Craig against type. A lesser film would have let Blanc be a punchline. Johnson lets him be a detective first and a joke second, and the film is better for it. The mechanic at the center of the mystery is the part worth watching. It turns a whodunnit into something closer to a howdunnit, and the shift keeps the 131 minutes moving.
The franchise plan is the other thing worth noting. Naming three murder mysteries after Radiohead, The Beatles, and U2 is a gimmick, but it is a gimmick with discipline behind it. Johnson built a series where the only constant is a detective and the only rule is that the title has to come from a song. That is a stranger and more interesting bet than most studios would take.
Knives Out earns its reputation. It is a comedy that respects its corpses, a mystery that plays fair, and a star vehicle that gives its star something to do. 8.2 of 10.
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