Knives Out

Knives Out is a 2019 murder mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson. Daniel Craig of James Bond fame stars as Benoit Blanc, while Christopher Plummer plays Harlan Thrombey. Other cast members include Jamie Lynn Curtis as Harlan's daughter Linda and Chris Evans as her son Ransom.

Mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey died of a slit throat on his birthday, shortly after fighting with most of his relatives. The police have ruled it a suicide, but someone anonymously sent the Great Detective Benoit Blanc a wad of cash, with a news article about Harlan's passing. Benoit suspects that Harlan's surviving children and grandchildren may know something about his death; he employs the man's nurse, Marta Cabrera, as his temporary assistant.

Just one problem: Marta knows more than she lets on initially to the police. She can't lie without throwing up, but she made a promise to keep the full circumstances of Harlan's death a secret. Someone knows, though, and is willing to endanger her mother.

A sequel came out on Netflix in 2022 titled Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Daniel Craig and Noah Segan are the only actors who return for the sequel, with the new cast including Edward Norton, Leslie Odom Jr., and Janelle Monae.


 * Accidental Murder: Ends up subverted., Benoit reveals and proves in the climax that
 * Affectionate Nickname: Lieutenant Elliot calls Benoit "Benny".
 * Asshole Victim: Zigzagged with Harlan; he was a Cool Old Guy to his staff, including Fran and Marta, while maintaining a close relationship with his daughter Linda. He freely admits, however, that he turned his children and grandchildren into a Spoiled Brat group of descendants; his ways of correcting this turns them all against Marta since . Walt and Joni may have deserved it, but Linda as far as we know didn't..
 * At Least I Admit It:
 * Played straight with Jacob. He is definitely an evil alt-right troll that swats people for fun and mimics his parents' racist views, but he visibly becomes annoyed with how his family scapegoats him. They're all assholes, but he's the only one willing to admit it.
 * Deconstructed with Ransom. He is the Black Sheep of the family, who had a fight with Harlan on his birthday, and shows no respect for anyone, which is why . Turns out.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: While Benoit appears to be eccentric and quirky, with a heavy Southern accent, he's every bit the detective as fitting his reputation. He immediately deduces that Richard is cheating on Linda, and that Walt had a fight with Harlan the night of the party. What's more, he realizes that everyone forgot Nana, Harlan's mother, and talks with her about what she saw.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Quite a few, that you can spot around the movie:
 * Harlan's chair of knives. After his birthday party, Harlan stabs a real knife into a table when talking with Marta about how he knows how alike he and Ransom are, but Ransom can't tell a real blade from a prop. . In the climax, when realizing that
 * Lemons in a fruit bowl on Harlan's desk. Linda tells the cops that she and Harlan had a special way of communicating, and finds the blank letter that Harlan used to threaten her husband.
 * Fran's stash of marijuana. She shared freely with Marta and Meg, when the former was not working.
 * Clean Pretty Reliable: Zigzagged. Marta, a trained nurse, performs actual chest compressions on after finding the latter overdosed in the abandoned laundromat, and dialing 911..
 * Could Have Avoided This Plot: Marta is horrified to learn this in the climax:
 * Didn't Think This Through: Someone hired Benoit Blanc anonymously to investigate Harlan's death and his family.
 * Drama Queen: Harlan's Fatal Flaw. He never knows how to do things by halves. In fact, the instigator for his death was.
 * Exact Words: Ransom reveals at the will-reading that he was fighting with Harlan about being cut from the will, before Harlan's birthday party that same day.
 * Explain, Explain, Oh Crap: One that happens in the climax. Benoit proves that.
 * Evil-Detecting Dog: Harlan's German Shepherds seem to have a good measure of character. They're fine with Linda, who was Harlan's closest relative, petting them, but bark at her son Ransom. Harlan mentions that they adore Marta, meaning they won't bark when . That they did bark that night reveals.
 * Hero Antagonist: Subverted eventually with Benoit. It seems that he is this for, uncovering evidence about what really happened the night Harlan died, but turns out
 * The Reveal: A few come out during the movie:
 * No one in the family touched Harlan the night of the party.
 * Benoit figures out and does The Summation:
 * Undying Loyalty: Harlan inspired this in his staff, Marta and Fran. Marta treated him as a Cool Old Guy to the point of and Fran loved him, as shown by her anger on realizing that
 * Your Cheating Heart: Harlan found out that Richard was cheating on Linda, and confronted him about it. He gave his son-in-law a day to come clean or Harlan would send a letter to his daughter with the news. Richard found the letter after Harlan's death, and it was blank.