SYNOPSIS:
A renowned crime novelist, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead in the attic of his gorgeous estate the night after his 85th birthday party, apparently by suicide. But the famous Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is hired by an anonymous donor to review the case and scrutinize Harlan's family and hired help, and it appears that Harlan's death may not be as simple as it first appears...
REVIEW:
At first, I expected this to be a modern-day Clue/Sherlock Holmes/Hercule Poirot type mystery. A crime is committed, the entire family is suspect, and eventually the truth is weeded out through evidence and clues pieced together throughout the film. But this film went down a different path, instead showing you clips of what actually happened, followed by each character's lie about how it happened. Early on, you learn probably 90% of the crime, but that missing 10%, that "hole in the donut," as Benoit Blanc put it, keeps you on your toes, waiting for a twist that will turn the whole story on its head.
I also found it interesting that a murder-mystery author ends up the victim of his own murder mystery. Very fitting end for a man fascinated with the genre. It spun a web of theories in my head early on, wondering if his experience as a crime novelist was somehow tied in to his death. Was it actually suicide? Was it a planned murder? Was it a red herring meant to distract from another crime? It added a layer to the mystery that kept me second-guessing every bit of obvious evidence thrust in my face throughout the film.
Daniel Craig, an English-born actor, did an excellent job pulling off an American southern drawl throughout this film, which was a little unexpected considering his character's name is very French. His detective character loved to wax poetic and had beautifully descriptive imagery in his words. I enjoyed listening to him talk. However, I personally felt that his role wasn't as grand as I had originally hyped him up to be. Maybe I was expecting this brilliant Sherlock Holmes type, but he felt more like a guy who managed to stumble across the right evidence as circumstance allowed it. He was only perceptive when the plot needed him to be; the rest of the time, he's just going along with the police investigation and providing random insight. Perhaps it's because they didn't show his thought process very well, so when he just announced a correct deduction, it was just taken as fact without any solid evidence. Heck, he even makes a comment about that while giving his masterful deduction at the very end; that they don't have a shred of evidence and it's all just his word against others. Perhaps you're expected to be distracted by his smooth talking enough to not really question him. He is, after all, a famous detective, so we hold out hope that he knows what he's doing and all will be explained by the end.
Still, it was an excellent film that kept you guessing up until the end. You think you have it figured out (after all, they showed you earlier what happened), then a twist to the plot appears, adding confusion and misdirection from the story you thought you already knew. The mystery wasn't necessarily in what happened, but why all the players behaved the way they did and lied, and how it all ties into the mysterious death. A few times, I noticed my wife putting down her phone, which is rare while watching movies, so that should tell you how captivating it was.
RECOMMENDATION:
This film was so successful in theaters that a sequel has already been greenlit, and there's talk about turning Detective Benoit Blanc into a murder mystery film franchise. I'm really happy about that; it's been a long time since we've had a good modern detective story and I look forward to watching more. This film was unique enough in its take on detective stories that it kept my interest. Normally you get sucked into that formula for mystery films and you spend the film trying to guess the actual killer, but this film found a way to breathe new life into the tired old mystery trope. I'd recommend seeing this film, and then set a reminder to go see its sequel when it's released in the next year or two!
No comments:
Post a Comment