Pre-Star Wars, Rian Johnson made his name as a director on twisty-turny genre piecesBrick, The Brothers Bloom(vastly underappreciated), andLooper.Then he went off and made a Star War and a very vocal fragment of the fandom pooped their Pampers overThe Last Jedi,an argument which continues today. Meanwhile, Rian Johnson has moved on, returning to his twisty-turny genre roots for a new movie calledKnives Out,which stars, oh, everyone you’ve ever heard of. Seriously, this cast is STACKED: Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas, Katherine Langford, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Don Johnson, Jaden Martell, and a fresh-off-Endgame克里斯·埃文斯(回到自己的根解放军ying preppy dickheads). The first trailer forKnives Outis here and it is EXTREMELY MY SH-T.
One of my biggest dreams in life is to attend a dinner party where a murder occurs, and Everyone Is A Suspect. This is pretty much the plot ofKnives Out, so before we even get to that mega-cast, I am in. But then you have snidely disapproving Jamie Lee Curtis—who is a baroness (with a tiaraand everything) and when she plays roles like this, it’s easy to picture her swanning around a castle, casually destroying the lives of the peasants around her—plus Toni Collette just, like, existing, and Daniel Craig in comedy mode, which we know he excels at thanks toLogan Lucky.And then there is theIcemanreunion with Michael Shannon and Chris Evans, and bonus LaKeith Stanfield, and I just cannot get over how good this ensemble is. The trailer forKnives Outcould just be a thirty-second list of the names of everyone involved and people would turn out in droves.
At least, I assume they will. Once upon a time, a movie with this much concentrated star power would be a sure thing. Now, though, I’m not so sure. We’ve seen good movies struggle this year already, likeBooksmart. Knives Outis set for a Thanksgiving release in the US, which puts it up againstFrozen 2.This is obviously meant to be counter-programming for people going to the movies over the long holiday weekend but who don’t want to see a cartoon. But in 2019, isn’t that the exact audience more likely to stay home with streaming?Knives Outwill be a great test to see if people are still willing to turn out for a classic ensemble caper, or if movies like this ought to just pack their bags and head straight to Netflix.
