Knives Out

Director Rian Johnson moves from intergalactic adventure (The Last Jedi) to the more intimate trappings of the whodunnit thriller and the result is a big, bold entertainment superbly performed by a joyously game cast. The autumnal scene of the crime is the mazy country mansion of the Thrombey clan, whose patriarch (Christopher Plummer) is found dead on his birthday, thus sparking a police investigation into possible foul play, with shifty family members and staff all having a motive for murder. So far, so Agatha Christie. Enter renowned Deep South detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, revelling in being comical for a change), who brilliantly begins to chip away at their affable veneer to reveal all sorts of festering resentment in a terrific opening sequence. The all-star cast (including Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette and Michael Shannon) is evidently having a ball, skilfully switching between deadpan and scenery-chewing in a flash. But best of all is Captain America himself, Chris Evans, as the black sheep of the family, firing out salty dialogue and insults (waggishly labelling Blanc "CSI KFC") that would make the clean-cut Avenger blush. As he did with previous gems Brick and Looper, Johnson demonstrates a Coen brothers-like ability to take a well-trodden genre and give it a fresh, exhilarating tweak.