Daniel Craig may be known best as the first ever blonde Bond, but that would be doing the rest of his work a disservice, not least the excellent Layer Cake and Logan Lucky. It is his best movie (and an unmistakable accent) that is leaving Netflix however. Knives Out.
This Rian Johnson masterpiece has a 97% critics score and 92% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s easy to see why. Craig plays the enigmatic and eccentric Benoit Blanc, a detective from the American South who steals the show amongst an ensemble cast in this murder mystery that you can’t miss. This movie is essential viewing before it leaves one of the best streaming services on June 22nd.
Evoking the works of Agatha Christie, Blanc must solve the murder of esteemed crime writer Harlan Thrombey (the late great Christopher Plummer) while dealing with his entirely deplorable and desperate family. He enlists the help of Harlan’s nurse Marta, played by Ana De Armas in a pre-No Time to Die partnership to help crack what appears to be an unsolvable case. Blanc uses Marta as a human lie detector of sorts due to a unique condition that afflicts her — she cannot lie or even entertain the thought of lying, without vomiting.
To say much more would spoil what is an excellent murder mystery that subverts genre tropes gleefully at almost every opportunity. It’s camp, tense and at times hilarious all at once. With an excellent sequel Glass Onion also on Netflix (and not leaving anytime soon) as well as a third instalment on the way, you need to get on the case and watch Knives Out before it’s too late.
If you still need persuading, how many chances are you going to get to watch a movie with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Chris Evans (in some excellent knitwear), Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, and Michael Shannon in supporting roles?
