KNIVES OUT

Release Date: Malaysia, 28 Nov 2019

Genre: Thriller

Running Length: 2:00

Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer

Director: Rian Johnson

Screenplay: Rian Johnson

KNIVES OUT is one of the most entertaining, smart and enjoyable films I've seen this year. 

The movie starts off like the board game Cluedo. Harlan Thrombey (Plummer), a renowned and rich crime novelist is found dead in his huge mansion the day after his 85th birthday party. He has invited his dysfunctional family, and there are many of them, to his party. Of course, everyone at the party is a suspect and in comes famous Detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) to investigate this mysterious death. 

And that's all I can say about this movie. Because anything more than that will rob you of your joy in watching this well-written, well-directed and well acted movie. 

The highlight of this movie is Daniel Craig's Blanc. His southern drawl is one of a kind and his method of investigation is refreshing. He is detached from logic and intuition and believes that the evidence will eventually show up. It's nice to see him moving around in a nonchalant laid-back manner, compared to his portrayal of James Bond. 

The other highlight is of course the ensemble cast of calibre actors, with most of them playing against type. You are glued to what's unfolding in front of you because of its sharp dialogue and not because of some car chase action scene. In fact, there is only one car chase scene in the entire movie and the remark at the end of the chase was funny in a self-parody way. 

Go watch this classic whodunnit? murder mystery on the big screen!

RATING: 9/10

SPECTRE (2015)

Genre: Action / Thriller
Running Length: 2:28
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenplay: John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth

SPECTRE is one technically accomplished and sleek Bond film. However, the screenplay pales in comparison to Skyfall, its immediate predecessor (also directed by Sam Mendes). The screenwriters tried to tie-in all the previous Daniel Craig's Bond into this film and as a result, it felt forced and patchy. Also, it gave me the vibe that Sam Mendes and team were not terribly motivated to make this film. To be fair, perhaps my expectations of Spectre was so high because Skyfall was just too good.

It starts off big with an engaging tracking shot of Bond working his way through a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. But it goes downhill and bloated thereafter where Bond's agenda this round is to follow the cookie crumbs left behind by his former boss. It kinda picked up towards the end when the big baddie revealed his masterplan but unfortunately, it just didn't redeem the entire movie. And the last 20 minutes which involved M vs. C was unnecessary. (Side note: "C" played by Andrew Scott is extremely distracting here. Those who watched BBC's Sherlock will get what I mean).

To me, Daniel Craig's Bond has always been more gritty and real for eg. he uses more hand-to-hand and fist fights. In summary, he "bleeds". But this round, the filmmakers seem to go back to the classic Bond where he seems invincible, overly suave and can fly a plane (and two helicopters) without breaking a sweat. Yes, even the corny, "'So James, what should we do now?' whispers the girl seductively" is present in this movie. The dude sitting next to me in the cinema hall couldn't helped but chuckled when the obvious happened thereafter.

As the main villain, Christoph Waltz is criminally underused. He is menacing in a somewhat cool demeanour. But compared to Javier Bardem's Silva, Waltz's baddie seems tame. Thankfully, the action set pieces are very well executed and the cinematography is breathtaking. And the score is exhilarating (however, that can't be said of Sam Smith's theme song; it was only marginally improved when coupled with the credit sequence visual feast).

Although Spectre is flawed, it's still an above average 007-outing.

Rating: 6.5/10