This is the third film in the ‘Knives Out’ franchise, with
the first reviewed in my Michael Shannon blog and the second’ Glass Onion’ not
bothering the scorers. I have now watched them all, and although they qualify
as decent entertainment, I doubt they could be seen as the event movies that
Netflix seem to have them down as, or worth their $200m budget. In fairness that
money is all on the screen, given Daniel Craig earned a reported $1m a minute
for his less than one hour screen time.
Still, budgets aren’t all, and if you can get a fun murder
mystery on screen who cares what it costs? Well, Netflix shareholders only, as
my £6.99 subscription is the same whether I watch this or some 70’s sex farce
from the UK.
Craig once again plays his flamboyant detective Benoit Blanc
who, whilst presumably French, has a ridiculous and wavering accent and a dress
code that Dick Emery would have issues with. Craig doesn’t appear for the first
30 minutes as the murder, with which the film is concerned, is played out. The
narrative is that familiar style of someone writing a letter as we dissolve to
the action. A young priest with a chequered past is sent to a new church to
assist Josh Brolin who is as convincing as a priest as Kenneth Williams would
have been as Dirty Harry. Brolin makes the younger cleric take his confession,
which is mostly about him wanking a lot.
Brolin is assisted by church elder Glenn Close, and he has several
parishioners to contend with including Andrew Scott, Thomas Hayden Church and
Hawkeye off ‘The Avengers’. You can’t say the cast list isn’t stuffed, but it
does seem like overkill to have so many familiar faces shoehorned in. You could
argue it’s like a panto or old Agatha Christie film, but it does take you out
of the action when Mila Kunis shows up as the cop and Jeffrey Wright as the Archbishop.
I’m guessing there will be no prizes for the casting director here!
The victim is Brolin and the young priest is the prime
suspect. For reasons unclear Blanc is in town and keen to solve the case with
his customary and annoying arrogance. He asks the priest to write out everything
he remembers and that takes us full circle to the letter writing opening.
There are a couple of decent twists and several unlikely ones.
Various cast members get bumped off and a convoluted story about an $80m
diamond is revealed – that’s so much money you could get nearly two Daniel
Craig performances! Some of the twists are telegraphed like the impenetrable tomb
which can be easily opened from the inside – remember that throwaway fact for
later kids!
Overall, this was a decent offering, but it was probably my
least favourite of the franchise. I think the re-treaded formula is wearing a
bit thin, with the players and the murders laid out before the inevitable denouement
where twist upon twist is unravelled before we learn the contrived truth.
The murder here seemed awfully unlikely and dependant on a
lot of chance events falling into place. It plays out OK at the end, but in reality many of the moving parts would have derailed the intricate plan long before the
murderer and fate of the diamond were decided – I managed to figure out both,
and I’m a bit slow at this stuff!
The plot was thin for an over two hour run time, and I may
have dozed off for five minutes in the middle – that was fine though, as everything
is explained in minute detail at the end for the thick people and those who’d
fallen into a turkey coma. These films are an ensemble piece, and it is always
fun to see your favourite actors ham it up and play in the dress up box. That said, it is debateable whether this is worth a large chunk of your TV viewing
allowance and if this was the end of the franchise, I doubt I’d notice or be upset.
W Rating 13/23 Best Bit : Confession Time
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