Knives Out Analysis

Knives Out

Written & Directed by: Riah Johnson

Nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay

Knives Out is a brilliant whodunnit murder mystery.

SPOILERS!

We see a rich old man, having his throat slit in the opening of the movie and that's the premise, the movie is going to be about revealing who did it and why whoever did that, did it. The movie starts with some officers asking questions to family members and that's how we get to understand what happens in the family. 15 minutes, into the film they show us a conflict between the old man and his son and 10 minutes later, we figure out everyone has reasons to kill the old man. 40 minutes into the film, we know who killed him and what happened and I went nuts! I was wondering if the rest of the movie is going to be about how that person is going to get away with it. But then it wouldn't be a whodunnit movie as I've read about it. Then the plot is moving forward, when we get to know about the will and there is some drama happening in the film. This is a brilliant tool that they use, they make us feel that the mystery is already over, you subconsciously know that there must be more to it but it's a brilliant way to give twists to the audience in a way that they don't see coming.

The set pieces, their costumes and especially the music, it adds a new layer of character to the film. It felt like I was watching a fantasy film. Whodunnit movies mainly rely on the mystery and the puzzle of the story, you can make a whodunnit with 3 men sitting inside a room and talking among each others and you can also make a huge budget movie like this but it never felt that this movie didn't deserve the ensemble cast or the huge set pieces. It made justice to everything, it closes every arc and it answers every question it raises. Whodunnit movies can be really bad if the puzzle feels clumsy because there isn't much drama in the film anyway, so the only thing that can be banked on are the twists and turns of the plot. I hope Knives Out paves way to more modern whodunnit murder mysteries.