The original Knives Out was just a ton of fun. I got both my parents out to see it, the last time I took either of them to the movies to date, and all three of us enjoyed the hell out of it. Finding out writer/director Rian Johnson was making a sequel, with only Daniel Craig returning as superdetective Benoit Blanc, and it was going to Netflix, well, that was good news for me. And then it came out the movie would have a very limited theatrical release a month before it hit the streaming service. There were a lot of movies I will probably try to see that came out this weekend, and I have a ton of papers to grade, but I can and will make time for another Knives Out.
I’m using the same reasoning to hopefully get to see the movie I skipped last week, The Menu, but as I type this, it remains to be seen if I will be able to.
It’s May of 2020. COVID is a thing, but reclusive billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), known for his genius ideas, sent out a puzzle box to his “disruptors,” longtime friends who are happy to come to his private Greek island for a fake murder mystery game. These so-called disruptors are Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), governor of Connecticut running for Senate; Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr), a scientist in Miles’s employ; Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), former model turned fashionista; and Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), a “men’s rights” activist influencer. Also along for the ride are Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), a young woman looking for a chance to build her own brand, and Peg (Jessica Henwick), Birdie’s long-suffering personal assistant. The surprise is Cassandra “Andi” Brand (Janelle Monae), Miles’s former business partner with whom he had a huge falling out. Oh, and for some reason, Benoit Blanc is also there. So, did someone invite a real detective along for a fake murder mystery game?
That seems to be a likely, particularly since Blanc soon realizes pretty much every one of the people on the island has a reason to want Miles dead for real and not just for the game. But the better question might be why Andi bothered to show up. She’s estranged from the rest of the group, and she doesn’t seem to be all that inclined to make nice with the others. Blanc isn’t even sure why he’s there as it is, but his abilities to figure out the truth means he’ll be looking into whatever is really going on. It’s another locked room mystery. There are only so many people on the island, so if someone were to turn up dead, then there’d be only so many possible suspects. The problem is, well, they all have a really good reason to turn on Miles. Or Andi. Or someone. What is going on here?
First off, the original Knives Out was, despite the advertising to the contrary, arguably less about Blanc than it was about Ana de Armas’s character. Blanc is just a somewhat eccentric background character who really is a great detective. This time around, Blanc and his ridiculous accent are front and center, allowing Craig to have some real fun. It shows since the movie itself is just a ton of fun. Johnson has managed to combine good comedy, an intricately-plotted mystery, and a socially conscious one at that. While Agatha Christie and her Hercule Poirot character is a clear influence on these movies and the Benoit Blanc character, Christie’s detective would hobnob with the upperclass and fit right in. Blanc’s cases often have him taking the side of the lowerclass characters he encounters as the wealthy all tend to be varying degrees of awful.
That is especially the point here. I don’t want to say too much about the plot that I haven’t already because part of the fun will be seeing the movie unfold as it goes along, complete with unexpected celebrity cameos and a slacker houseguest who only pops up when he’s least expected but often to provide a good laugh. But I will say that Norton’s Miles is clearly based on that certain type of billionaire that exists who, for whatever reason, seems to have a lot of fans and a cult of personality based around said billionaire’s supposed brilliance, and given the one he reminded me of the most, well, let’s just say recent real world events that Johnson couldn’t possibly have known about while filming may have made the movie accidentally more relevant than it was supposed to be. As it is, I dug the hell out of my second go-around with Benoit Blanc, though it isn’t quite as good as the first film. Then again, being not quite as good while still being a lot of fun is fine by me.
Grade: A-
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