How To Do A Plot Twist - Knives Out

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Knives Out was miles better than Rian Johnson's last film Star Wars: The Last Jedi. But Knives Out is praised for subverting people's expectations, while The Last Jedi was criticised for the exact same thing. What? How does that make any sense? In this video essay, I break down the lesson Rian Johnson learned on how to do a subversion...
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[@sofarle]

My absolutely favourite twist of the entire movie wasn't that Ransom did it but that Marta was innocent all along, because bless her sweet heart and her pure soul, she deserves to have a clear conscience after everything she's been through

[@judichristopher4604]

00ooopps... I have not seen this movie yet... Did I just read a "Spoiler Alert"?

[@KCDCish]

@@judichristopher4604 Yeah... if you come to a video titled "how to do a plot twist-knives out" I'm fairly certain you should expect people to talk about the plot......

[@judichristopher4604]

@@KCDCish Exactly... My bad!

[@shakesmystump]

I loved this movie, it was spectacular. But wouldn't she get in trouble because she obscured evidence thinking she was the murderer? Although she was innocent wouldn't she at least have some sort of trial or other sentence of some kind? (i wouldn't know. im not a lawyer) That just doesn't seem right, is it that she tried to save the other woman who had a morphine injection as well?

[@jjef8706]

Except I doubt she has a clear conscience after finding out he would've been fine, and committed suicide for no reason. It wasnt her fault but guilt won't take that laying down

[@austinohlrich9370]

I liked how each persons flashback to the night of the party showed themselves as the person closest to their father, with their arm around them. Showing how self centered everyone is.

[@crossenmorgan]

YESS I LOVE THIS DETAIL ITS SO FUNNY HOW THEY ALL PICTURE THEMSELVES NEXT TO HIM WITH THE CAKE

[@austinohlrich9370]

Also everyone gave different answers as to what country Marta was from. " Shes like part of the family..." lol.

[@wilfroberts637]

@@austinohlrich9370 The difference between the way they think they treat her vs the way she remembers it is stark and very revealing into their characters

[@austinohlrich9370]

@@wilfroberts637 oh yeah for sure. They all wanted her at the funeral but were "out voted". Or when Richard calls Marta over to weigh in on a conversation and ends up just giving her his dirty dishes. I could go on for days. Fkning love this movie so much

[@herotheancient1352]

Definitely my favorite of the whole movie because of each of them view their own story and I was laughing like huh.

[@angeleab9451]

Another detail I love about the movie is that four separate times, different family members off handedly mention where Marta might be from; Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Brazil. They all know she’s an immigrant, but none of them care enough to actually ask and know exactly where she’s from, or ask in the first place. It’s such a small thing I didn’t catch the first time but when I noticed it really added to the characters’ dispositions.

[@micaelmeneses3234]

As an immgrant, I laughed so hard every time someone mentioned a different country

[@miaowshakes_]

i noticed this too! lol such a good detail

[@xenon8117]

Do we ever know where she’s from and did any of them happen to be right by fluke?

[@dreadedfred9766]

@@xenon8117 The little nazi child calls her an "anchor baby" and there's only a mention of her mother being undocumented, never her or her sister so it's entirely possible she was born in the US, making that joke that much better.

[@enderdragoncrafter2412]

Thanks for pointing it out, I love this movie but I kept getting confused about what country she's from. Now I want to re-watch it in the hopes that she answers that question or someone does.

[@haydenhidey8698]

Realizing Ransom showed up to the will reading just to watch everybody react on how they aren’t getting a thing out of the will makes him that much more savage. Mans said “Not only am I not getting anything, NOBODY IS😂😂😂😂” makes it that much better considering the things the family was saying to him bout “this will make you grow up” and “nothing good is ever easy”

[@icantthinkofanything798]

He was even snacking- like someone in the corner eating popcorn watching shit go down

[@codyhelms2556]

He also threw their comments back in their faces. When Linda finds out that Ransom was cut out of the will, she says "I think that this is the best thing that could ever happen to you." and when Ransom is driving off with Marta, he yells back at the family "I think that this is the best thing that could happen to all of you." The family didn't quite make the connection, funnily enough.

[@KalinTheZola]

The movie also makes it clear though that he was secure in the knowledge that the slayer clause would prevent Marta from getting the inheritance, thereby it would go right back to the family. So while he thought the whole thing was amusing, he didn't actually think they weren't getting the fortune.

[@paradoxpizza]

And he left the house early to tinker with Marta’s car.

[@KalinTheZola]

@@zankudragon In the final confrontation, Blanc say verbatim that he knew about the slayer rule, so yes. That's my point. He knew that the slayer rule would nullify the changes made to the will and thus he wouldn't be out anything. He just didn't realize until later that she wouldn't actually be found guilty of anything since she used the proper medication and then had to change his plans.

[@LadyTsunade777]

My favorite little detail/clue from Knives Out was the seemingly throw-away line by Harlan "[Ransom] can't tell a stage knife from a real one" Because that one line at the moment seems like a meaningless line just there to show that Harlan thinks Ransom is kinda stupid, but in the end that one detail was the whole reason Marta survived.

[@klopfgeist898]

@@acapitala4936 Yeah me too, and wehen I saw Ransom taking the knife, I kinda knew she would be alright, but then they added that stabbing sound effect and I wasn't so sure anymore.

[@gamzeemakara7409]

I’m not sure how young you are, but most stories do this and the example this movie gave was probably one of the most elementary ways of doing it. Even 15 minute Disney shows follow this rule.

[@gamzeemakara7409]

If you want an insanely good use of this trick, I would play persona 5 Royale. It has the best example of a throw away scene becoming important later I’ve ever seen, and it’s exemplified by the fact that it happens at the very beginning of a 140+ hour game, so by the end of it, you can barely remember it and assume it was an unimportant scene.

[@WhamBamTySam]

Chekhov's Knife

[@aster4610]

@@gamzeemakara7409 wait what was p5r’s usage of this trick? i played the game a while ago and cannot recall what you are referring to

[@ascenciopictures]

I love that Ransom is set up as the "douchebag with a heart of gold" character trope. Only to reveal that he's just a douchebag.

[@rishabhanand4973]

albeit not as much of a douchebag as some of his family

[@philipmorse-fortier5499]

I think my favorite clue was that when I was watching it, it FELT like she hadn't poisoned him, because they have her describe what will happen as he overdoses, and it doesn't happen, he seems fully in control of himself and conscious throughout that scene which lasted several minutes. In this way the final reveal that she DIDN'T give him the wrong dose works even better, because it explained that nagging sense of "wait but shouldn't he have been getting drowsy?"

[@diccchocolate416]

Initially I thought the film just wasn't commiting to the effects of morphine. But then when fran died, I realised somthing was up.

[@VidiaReePhoenix]

I immediately knew something was up because she did not have the antidote in her bag. Nurses are very careful with their medicine. It would be in the bag. The fact it was gone and she was surprised it was gone meant somebody must've took it which meant she was set up.

[@xenon8117]

Also he would have cut his throat expecting to be drowsy and pain free with such a high dose and then died in whatever pain might come from such a wound, not a great way to go.

[@daverobson3084]

@@VidiaReePhoenix Right. She would have also known that EMS carries naloxone and she could just do rescue breathing to stave off hypoxia until they got there. She let him die so she would not get into some trouble for a medication error( which happens all of the time in the real world. Medicine administration errors are one of the most common mistakes in medicine).

[@lizzyrank5405]

​@daverobson3084 She actually tried to stop him, but he decided that's how he wanted to go. He might have been a great writer, but he was a dumbass.

[@sabrexi7228]

My brain exploded at the “You did this” twist. It was so fucking clever

[@BMG0091]

Sadly this cant be portrayed in other languages that well

[@icantthinkofanything798]

@@BMG0091 that's true- you'd probably have to make up some name that rhymes with the word for you in the dub. Still works in Spanish kind of though, with Tu and Hugh (assuming she as a fellow housekeeper wouldn't be using the formal usted, I'm not 100% sure I don't speak a lot of Spanish)

[@ambre4144]

@@BMG0091 wow you got me thinking… im french but im fluent in English so i watched it in English but now i wonder how that part was translated in french.

[@martingon9156]

@@icantthinkofanything798 not quite, because in spanish you’d say “hiciste” when talking directly to the other person, when talking about someone else you say “hizo”

[@ruithebaguette2862]

German works too with "du"

[@corbinpearce7686]

How to do a plot twist: Give James Bond a southern accent

[@0olilyo089]

When I saw James bond in the movie I was so excited, but then I heard him and I was confused. I couldn't believe that accent was coming out of his mouth XD

[@TheAhsanOne]

He sounded british

[@adjustedbrass7551]

@@TheAhsanOne Certain southern accents ring true to English accents more than the standard American accent.

[@SPatano_]

That was the very reason that I was distracted whenever he talked, I tried to focus on his acting as well as the plot but the accent was kind of bothersome.

[@daisyslusher1281]

watch Logan Lucky-Craig’s got a west virginia/appalachian accent and it’s wonderful (this is coming from me, someone with that very accent)

[@dayuye52]

correct me if I’m wrong because I haven’t done really any research on the movie other than watching it, but I feel Rian Johnson casting Chris Evans was intended, especially because Avengers Endgame came out in the same year, they tried to cast ransom as someone you could automatically love and trust, such as Captain America

[@johnlewis8934]

Yeah that’s a smart movie honestly

[@CaptainBones222]

Pretty fucking clever, it pretty much made it up to a Meta switch to have the bad guy have the same actor as a the hero of the other movies he was in

[@rachelwharton4245]

That’s ingenious

[@sam-zh8lt]

Maybe that´s the reason why I wasn´t that surprised, when they revealed who the murderer was; I never trusted Captain America.

[@FameRuler]

@@sam-zh8lt aren't you special

[@axolitic]

can we also talk about how the ending feels so deserved? it’s one of the only movies where I have no problems with the ending

[@RGC_animation]

You know I don't usually have a problem with the endings of most movies I watch, did you mean it's one of the only twist endings you had no problems with?

[@luckas221a]

​@@RGC_animation He means the end is satisfying. The "good guys" get their rewards, the "bad guys" get their punishments. And everything *makes sense* ! A lot of films nowadays end and you feel a certain unease, either someone didn't get what they deserved or there are just so many questions to be answered.

[@brekinridgepuffington]

yeah, especially the final shot of her standing on the balcony after chris evans was arrested looking down on all of them

[@epicgamer268]

Ransom being the killer was easy to spot from the beginning when Harlon said "the dogs should be quiet because they know you" what I loved was the way everything played out and finding out how it was done.

[@afellowpotato]

I'm just replying so you can see how much likes you got

[@ryankelsay5984]

Can we also talk about the amazing Chekhov’s Gun that was “I can no longer tell whether or not a knife is a prop”

[@maximeteppe7627]

This movie has a full Chechov's arsenal. It's a checkov's machine gun firing checkov's bullets every second. (on a side note, the checkov's machine gun hasn't had much military use, because the bullets reach there target 10 to 120 mn after being fired, which is obviously unreliable on the battlefield.)

[@CarriedbyGg]

I think it was pretty obvious, which I didn't like. You could see the end coming from that scene on, because there is this ridiculous throne :D

[@sy7667]

chekhov's rhetoric?

[@violetlavi2207]

That quote was Harlan talking about Ransom, not himself, but yeah!

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

A | I watched it twice with 4 other people. After two viewings they still hadn't picked up on that. So, yeah. Not really all too predictable. You've just got a good eye, I guess!

[@amirullahzulkifli7052]

I admit that I teared up a bit when James Bond explained how she actually gave the correct doses because she's just a really good nurse

[@Doctor_Straing_Strange]

Same, I suspected it at the start. I thought ''this might all have been a misunderstanding and he died for nothing'', but then I forgot about it and when he said that I cried a bit. The poor man DID die for nothing

[@DMWayne-ke7fl]

No, she was careless and unprofessional. A real nurse would have identified something was amiss.

[@xanderpierson6285]

@@DMWayne-ke7fl Did you totally miss the explaination of Mr. Blanc? She knew she was giving him the right medication because she can tell the difference between the viscosity of the two liquids. She did her job. If she didn't know what she was doing and had to rely solely on the labels, she would have surely been responsible for his death.

[@amirullahzulkifli7052]

@@xanderpierson6285 spot on

[@winxclubfairiesrule1]

@@DMWayne-ke7fl I guess you weren't paying attention to the movie

[@101damnations7]

One of my favorite little cheeky scenes I saw on rewatches with friends was when the center is burned down with all the evidence by a lit growler and then we cut over to Ransom’s house with Marta and you can see a line of growlers by his window with one obviously missing

[@crossenmorgan]

WAIT WHAT

[@iram6265]

Holy shit

[@dulcecitarisitas3504]

what is a growler

[@CreoTan]

@@dulcecitarisitas3504it’s a small keg for beer

[@aroryboreallen]

​@dulcecitarisitas3504 a type of jug used for refills of beer directly from a brewery. 64oz

[@TheDunnDusted]

I was so ready for Martha to be surprise revealed as the true killer who played the long con to get revenge on a family who disregarded her and avenged the one person she got along with. Instead, it promised us Martha was a nice character and she was proven to be a nice character. Like everyone else, I was relieved to the point of near tears when Blanc said she was a good nurse. The tension of who is the true killer wasn't just wondering if Martha or a family member will be arrested, but the stress of how long Blanc was taking to actually tell us, the audience, the answer. I was actually getting frustrated the longer he went on that doughnut theory.

[@JiaRuAu]

Another really important factor was his casting choice: Chris Evans is probably the most unexpected bad guy ever. It's almost impossible to imagine him any less than vaguely neutral.

[@kurisuuuuuuu]

now that's true but before marvel he was always the cocky guy, just remember the fantastic 4 movie where he is the human torch

[@jacobm6617]

@@kurisuuuuuuu he played pretty much the exact same role in a movie called fierce people in the early 2000s

[@TomEyeTheSFMguy]

Let's not forget his role in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Lucas Lee, the 2nd evil ex.

[@alexrobertson3138]

Did you actually watch this video? He makes the point that the audience is essentially told right away that Ransom did it. The twist is HOW he did it.

[@yutisima]

@@alexrobertson3138 Did you watch this video? he also makes it clear that, even if the movie says it in the beggining, most don't catch ir until when it's revealed and look back like it was obvious

[@noahmay7708]

There is a line in the movie that says something along the lines of: "Him (Ransom) and his father couldn't tell the difference between a real knife and a prop" Which is what ends up saving Marta in the end.

[@thatgirlinamask8699]

I had an genuine laugh when he pulled it back and it was a prop, just because I remembered that line

[@Devosimms]

Umm this was an integral part of the movie haha Like a huge plot point.

[@noahmay7708]

@@Devosimms Not *huge*, if you ask me, but I guess it could be argued,

[@ifbadwhypretty]

Yeah. When that scene wherein ransom took the knife and ran towards Marta, this saying entered my mind and at that moment, I was sure that it was fake. I just like how the movie supplies every action in the movie with low-key details

[@lazerNeo]

That was legit my favorite part of the movie. Like, I could already tell the knife was gonna be a prop cause I remembered the old man saying that line for some reason.

[@IridescentFalcon72]

The beauty of Knives Out is also that it still works even if you figure it out. I recall I think I caught onto the dog clue early on but remained perplexed. Ransom seemed guilty somehow, but /how/ exactly he was guilty was the hard part. Marta 'did' it as far as we can tell, so it became not just whodunit but became a howdunit.

[@matildalongworth3157]

It's also a really clever integration of several Agatha Christie novels, I think her writing is probably what made the twist so effective, along with pretty cool directing and cinematography

[@PrimataGamer]

Agreed, it felt almost like a tribute

[@vicmonik]

YES. i was thinking the same by the end of the movie. i even questioned myself (with my bad memory) if the name of the detective was pierrot. does anyone know more movies like this (aside from adaptations)?

[@RGC_animation]

I mean, And Then There Were None is the pinnacle of twist ending stories I feel like.

[@cathyfarcks1242]

Yes. For me, the biggest twist was that there wasn't a twist. It set up as a parody of an Agatha Christie mystery, and ended up being something she might have actually written.

[@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460]

​@no 1 Hercule Poirot, the greatest detective ever!! 🤗🤗 A movie was made of my favorite Agatha Christie novel, *"The ABC Murders"* and , unfortunately, it was terrible because they had John Malkovich as Poirot (🤮). He was horrible!!! But the story is a mystery masterpiece, so I suggest reading the book.

[@annikabunnel743]

Another subversion was the whole casting of Chris Evans. When I was watching the movie I desperately wanted to believe that his character was at least deep down good. It was the effect of captain America. I saw Steve Rodgers, not randsom

[@dragonstouch1042]

Annika Bunnel same

[@anna_lytical]

ngl me too his charm and looks made me wanna root for him for some reason jsjsjss

[@Lunk42]

That was honestly part of why I believed it was him when I was watching.

[@simranwilasra2196]

I love it when actors' other characters/real-life persona create these expectations for us, it makes it so much more fun to watch!

[@delphinidin]

Well, and we've got this trope of the young, handsome "bad guy" who is actually a good person deep down if people gave him a chance, his parents were just jerks, etc etc. The casting, as you point out, only increased this! And then... SUBVERTED

[@codyallen43]

I really love how completely obvious it is that Ransom did it but the movie does an incredible job at convincing you it wasn't him while simultaneously giving you all the clues which point directly at him. Can't praise this film enough honestly

[@92brunod]

What do you think it does to convince you it wasn't him? I really don't get it. One thing it should have done is create another possible suspect which the movie never does. It was obvious it was him and it was him, what is there to praise here? I don't get it.

[@ultrabigfella]

@@92brunod Ransom helps Marta, and he seems to be a Red Hering. In my opinion I thought it was going to be Michael Shannon's character, who clearly was also set up as a villain, or maybe Don Johnson's

[@Itseightysix]

@@92brunod thank you I hope I wasn’t the only one. Tbh this movie is meant as a parody of mysterious films , not to be taken seriously and really the movie is just flat out corny , wrong and boring

[@92brunod]

@@ultrabigfella The moment Ransom starts helping Marta is when he becomes suspect number 1. Up to that point he was just a jerk, not a murder suspect. Michael Shannon's character if he was faking his disability maybe. Many of them were set to be shitty but none stand out. If any of them were the killers it would have felt cheap.

[@92brunod]

@@Itseightysix Yeah, as a fun movie is ok but it gets praise for the twist... The video says the twist is damn near impossible to figure it out beforehand, and it's the most obvious twist I've seen in a long time.

[@wildwesley9328]

I just saw Knives out and the dogs barking at Ranson gave away that he was the murderer the whole time. But the twist was still good to me because I didn’t know that he had switched the contents of the bottles. I thought he’d just switched the positions. The reveal that Marta was such a good nurse that she subconsciously gave him the right dose was so good and tragic. Even though all the foreshadowing clues were extremely obvious to me, the payoff was still worth it.

[@icantthinkofanything798]

That's a great part of this movie- even if you guess some of it, you can't possibly guess ALL of it

[@pseudoproak]

Agreed. Also, it was very clear early on that Marta was innocent and someone switched the medication and stole the antidote to make Marta kill him. I moreso suspected yoga woman because she quickly came to their room after the short commotion, expecting the patriarch to die very soon. But as soon as Ransom confessed to the police, it could only be him. He was fine with being framed and a payout just before ...

[@doctorjp42]

I still don't understand one thing. What's with the position change? Anyway it's loose right? She would check the name before injecting it. Had it been place in two different positions, it would have made sense

[@MarcyRavenManji]

​@@doctorjp42 listen again to Blanc's explanation, Marta did not need to check the labels, she knows what morphine looks like conpared to the other drug.

[@Ellisepha]

I noticed the dogs barking at him too and suspected him from there. Didn't know how he would make her give the fatal dosis but I suspected that he stole the anti-toxin amd paid Blanc.

[@samuelbarber6177]

What I love is how the movie changes genres for the second act. For the whole second act, we think we know who did it, despite everything not adding up, and then bam, third act it becomes a who-dunnit again. The best part is that the killer is so incredibly obvious, or at least would be, if A) We didn’t have Martha’s flashback scene and B) they didn’t make him such an obvious Red Herring. A character like Ransom, in any other story, would just be the Red Herring. The clues line up just too well, it’s too obvious, so you disregard him, not to mention the fact that you believe Marta did it and it was all an accident. Then suddenly, bam, it hits you. You didn’t know everything, and the obvious, Fake Mc-Redherring is the real villain.

[@fruzsimih7214]

There is a novel by Agatha Christie with a similar plot twist: The guy who is suspicious from the start but is ruled out in the middle of the story is the actual killer.

[@Tori-vz5er]

Also, I firmly believe casting choices played a big role in helping to subvert audience expectations. I remember sitting in the cinema thinking "there's no way Captain America is the murderer"

[@hibikiotonokojishslvocalis7550]

Absolutely! Not just that, but because everyone's a famous actor, you can't immediately guess who's the murderer and/or the murdered.

[@crispyein8601]

This is so true, I thought that while watching the movie too! I guess I just can’t hate chris evans haha

[@BiologicalClock]

When I was watching it for the first time, I thought it was way too obvious for him to be the murderer, since he had the most motive to kill him and seemed like this biggest asshole. I was sure I was right when he rescued Marta and opened up to her at the bar. And then he turned out to be the baddie. If the film was played straight, I would have been so disappointed, but the use of subversion and genre switching made the conclusion thrilling. Really excellent screenplay and directing.

[@nibrasjaly]

that makes a lot of sense. this reminds me of the casting choice for ryan in promising young woman. the audiences preconceived notions about a character even based on who they know them as in real life enhances the plot twist like crazy

[@doctordeathdefying132]

When he dropped the f-bombs, everyone I watched with said ‘Captain America, how dare you!’

[@amokriinprolgiid3409]

Another interesting thing they did in this movie was with Ransome. First off, it was SO OBVIOUS that he was the bad guy that anybody who's seen a mystery film or read a mystery book would instantly assume that this character has to be a red herring. Like, why would they make this character SO OBVIOUS from the start? And so, the audience casually starts to inspect other characters so much because they just assume that this character is too obvious. Which also subverts the audience's expectations by setting up what looks like a really overused trope just to drop it entirely and have him be the bad guy. Then by the time you realize he's not a red herring, then the story becomes, okay, but how did he do it and how did he almost get away with it? Also, him being the same actor as Captain America makes the scene when he was cussing everyone out hilarious.

[@rickydinto]

I have mind systems to separate subjects, as main suspect or alternative suspect, it's not really affect me. It's bad plot-distraction for me.

[@Corviidei]

I just imagine the knives out producers going to Chris Evans like “aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you wanna go apeshit?”

[@koalabears980]

I didn't know until the end so I guess I'm dumb 😭

[@vb8428]

Once we followed him outside the film became crap

[@sirduckington5435]

I called it when I watched the movie when the great aunt asked if he was back again and my family just kept saying it was her referencing him leaving earlier

[@fogelmclovin2694]

This guy perfectly merged in the Audible ad there. He did it so well, in fact, that I was actually proud of myself for the speed I realised and skipped to the end of it.

[@spyglass31415]

Lol 😂 same!

[@afellowpotato]

Not me. I watched the sponsor ship. I was bamboozled!

[@funniloneliboi]

Biggest subversion in the entire video

[@JaneNewAuthor]

Especially given how they take 70% from the writers!

[@elephantwaffle5612]

Knives Out's approach to tell you exactly what happened at the beginning was so bizarre and disappointing to me. Then I realized it was a brilliant decision and an incredible movie

[@FlySmooth]

The ultimate plots twist was when he did the Audible advertisement in the middle of the video and not the end

[@neenim4708]

yeah that threw me, I was like, "is the video over already? "

[@SamirMadad]

i for once watched that whole advertisement segment

[@Sockly]

It was also such a smooth transition

[@Jay-oo5be]

Maybe the real plot twist was the advertisements we heard along the way

[@colinfinkel7587]

But did it follow the 3 rules?

[@orbitalrped3129]

The biggest revelation of the movie: Maria saying "That's great news" to the doctor over Frans death

[@idonteatspiders2986]

I didn't even think of that, imagine the doctors confusion lol

[@vsratoslava]

I’m pretty sure she secretly hung up first. At least I hope so lol

[@brand0n0h3]

kinda sounds like grave news imo

[@yashim08]

That's actually the one thing I managed to predict.

[@marianacamposrivera3626]

Martha*

[@jacobmoore6567]

Interesting thing I’ve noticed is that Blanc speaks earlier on about his process is “reading the arc of truth and waiting for it to land at your feet”. He suspected Marta from the very start, once she had confessed he could have taken that at her word and thought case solved, but he waited for the truth to fully reveal itself as it always would.

[@edenmckinley3472]

As someone who grew up reading and watching Agatha Christie mysteries, this movie just hit a sweet spot for me. It is the perfect murder mystery, and no one is going to change my mind. It had entertaining dialogue, phenomenal visual storytelling, and like you said, the best plot ever. Maybe not the best, but certainly the most well-executed. And the characters were compelling. Even when I didn't like a character, I was still on the edge of my seat when they were on screen. I can only fantasize about writing a plot as good as this one, plotting has always been the most difficult part of my writing. And in execution, my stories are much more character focused and slow-paced, which makes them meandering. Once I get to the beta-reading stage in my novel, I will have to ask my readers if everything comes together, or if it just feels like random events.

[@RiverSlant]

As a fellow Christie fan, I found this film to have done more justice to the golden age detective fiction than Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot adaptations.

[@JG-tp7go]

My favourite part/detail is that the movie starts with the cup of coffee that has writting "My house, My rules, My coffee!!", and then the movie ends with that same cup of coffee with Marta. Just amazing

[@peterklenner2563]

I also believe that this mug gives a polite finger to all who hated on The Last Jedi.

[@keysburntgucci9016]

Something you only notice when you watch it more than once.

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

@@keysburntgucci9016 i noticed it on the first run, (just watched the movie an hour ago) but I'm a writer whose's always had a natural instinct for spotting Chekov's guns like that. Still brilliant.

[@agnessofiacastrocarvalho774]

@@keysburntgucci9016 i noticed at first watch

[@aboredguywithaninternetcon4663]

And it gives specific emphasis on the My House part, because Marta's hand covers the rest. So you know what she will do next about the family without her saying a thing.

[@aidan5035]

The plot is so twisted that by the end, it's straight again.

[@kryse4806]

well two 180s is a 360. if you take a u turn twice, youll just go back to where youre heading to in the first place

[@theultraatomicgamer]

Why is there only 1 reply here?

[@ATP980]

There are 3 replies here

[@crunchylettuce8461]

and our donut is finally whole!

[@youraverageyoutubeenjoyer]

i still think the donut hole’ hole has a hole?

[@SSS-ie6mh]

Everything fits so well in Knives Out. Even the gag knife that thwarted Ransom's murder attempt was foreshadowed earlier when Harlan references that the house is full of fake knives and that he has a real one.

[@MordechaiKarp]

I think another reason the plot twists and subversions work so well is because of who we are set up to root for. Both Marta and Blanc are very sympathetic to root for, so the plot twist of Marta being responsible leaves us confused about who to root for, until we find out the answer is both. Meanwhile, Ransom is introduced as the bad guy, before the plot twist of him helping Marta makes us think he might be the unexpected anti-establishment hero who isn't like his family. The plot reveal that Marta and Blanc are both on the good side, and Ransom is the real villian is so satisfying. (I also feel like Johnson was making a subtle statement about Trump. This is actually hinted when Richard talks about how maybe "an asshole is what this country needs"). Edit: typo

[@realgrahamholliday]

My favorite movie twist of all time is at the end of the Rise of Skywalker when it's revealed you just wasted 2 hours of your life.

[@leeceero]

Underfedpool So true

[@RawBerserker]

Make that "wasted 43 years of storytelling"

[@saoirsedeltufo7436]

It does give me a sudden appreciation for the prequels... god 9 was one of the worst films I've ever seen

[@darthvader5514]

Yes.

[@gum8191]

Star Wars is for children.

[@Chellzie]

I think one of the smartest things that added shock to this twist was making the actor we have seen be a hero for 10 years suddenly play a villian. Chris Evans has a reputation of playing the good guy so when you see him in the trailers your going to think there is no way Chris Evans could ever or would ever play a bad guy.

[@beatm6948]

People have mentioned he always played cocky characters in the past. But you wouldn't know that unless you are someone who WATCHES movies, and is into action. He is pretty sinonymously known as Cap to the wider audience, and had been playing that role for 10 years. It kinda messed with you in that way. Also, I'd presume a younger audience would be watching this movie as well, people who know him as Cap

[@andreakoeries7230]

he played in bad guy in scott pilgrim

[@stanstanstan2597]

It’s all an act. Ironically, he’s a pretty un-patriotic person in real life (from what I’ve heard).

[@Chellzie]

@@stanstanstan2597 Yeah I know its an act, hes an actor

[@awesomechainsaw]

Actually the fact that he played cap helped me figure it out. I was totally thinking about his cap role during this movie. And the fact that if he didn’t wanna kill his career he’d use it to play someone completely different than Captain America to show his range. So the best way to do that would be becoming the villain. Also I mean the dude is named Ransom. It’s like naming your Villain. Crimes Mc Steals Alot. Any time I started to doubt the fact he was the villain. I remembered his name was Ransom. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the film though.

[@lucielcolon5743]

This movie is the kind of movie that NEEDS to be watched more than once! You’ll find yourself reacting the same way Ransom does during the will reading (and especially the scene before it). It’s such a unique experience.

[@xTheUnderscorex]

The twist of Knives Out wasn't that Ransom did it, it was that Harlan did it. Not just the immediate act of suicide (which very importantly for the plot is 100% how he died), but that he'd set the stage in every way for what happened to him. He played a part in almost all the many failures of his family (probably not the nazi brat), and Ransom most of all was a creature of his own making and in his own image, a tragedy/farce echo of the worst part of his nature. It wasn't a coincidence that the plot Harlan devised to protect Martha that came out of his murder mystery addled brain was almost identical to Ransom's plan to murder him.

[@brettpaterson2689]

I always loved the part where she lists off the symptoms of an overdose and he doesn't exhibit any and kills himself. Like when I watched I was so confused as to why she wasn't sitting there going "wait wtf"

[@zoch9797]

Same. "Because you are a good nurse." No, she really wasn't.

[@rosestar1324]

In the movie, she said tbe symptoms would start in like 5 or 10 minutes from injection and then he dies before symptoms are able to show. BUT I did read a comment from a nurse about that scene. Apparently he could have survived if she called 911 and then did cpr until help arrived but that didn't happen.

[@daemonspade8316]

@@rosestar1324 and the story acknowledges that but just like Ransom, Harlan was caught up in his own bullshit too.

[@lilmozzarella]

i think part of it is at least because they weren’t keeping track of time and also she’s panicking because she thinks she’s killing him, and isn’t in the right mindset

[@FilmFan-iv7sz]

I found it odd that Marta said harlan would have symptoms in 5 mins yet even 7 mins later he has none. So I am surprised she didn't cotton on. Also the doctor tells Marta gran is dead yet she says to him that's great news 😅 plus everyone seems happy she is dead as ransom gets longer in jail

[@robonick3607]

For some reason, I think a Closer Look likes Knives Out. Call it a hunch.

[@TheCloserLook]

It might be the fact he screams "God I love this movie!" at some point. I've got a hunch he likes it too.

[@PangolinMontanari]

I have a hunch... and I hope to have it surgically corrected

[@MegaGothmog]

@@TheCloserLook That might be the foreshadowing he was talking about.

[@cryperenrico9162]

@@MegaGothmog underrated comment lmao

[@yevheniishyshko7961]

civandalic I third this

[@aliadrift]

This is one of my favorite movies now. When I first watched it and they revealed what happened with Marta and Harlon, I immediately got bored and couldn't understand why there was so much time left when the mystery was over, so I 100% wasn't expecting the twist. I was so shocked, and then I rewatched it and truly appreciated it all the way through.

[@shekhahmad663]

This movie is so amazing still can't get over it. The twist, the humour, the filmmaking. A perfect film, an absolute masterpiece. 💯 recommend 10/10 🤩🤩

[@9tailjeza]

i think this movie is a good example of a minority, immigrant, female character being a strong and interesting character first, whose background is a fundamental element of her character, but not the fundamental element of her character.

[@ERBanmech]

9tailjeza great way of putting it, too many people in media and in life think that their race, gender, or sexuality is their defining trait when really we are all so much more than that. Because people and media restrict themselves to those groups we begin lacking the ability to effectively share things in common whether that be politically, socially, or story wise. I believe we need to make ourselves and our characters “human” instead of defining them by what they “are” first. Then we can get something that everyone can understand and sympathize with.

[@kimberlyhaines107]

9tailjeza That’s funny because it makes me think of Thomas Sanders’ song “Gay Disney Prince”, calling out how slow Disney is in portraying LGBT characters, the most in your face being LeFou in the live action, and even that was minimal. But he has a lyric that basically goes: “A guy who likes guys/But is still humanized in his film...” Meaning his sexual preference can be mentioned and discussed, but as a more minor aspect of the prince over his other qualities. Just like Marta was first and foremost a good nurse, and kind and loving friend with an inner strength she didn’t fully realize she had. Her family’s nationality, if all of them are legal or illegal immigrants, is important but not the focus because it doesn’t need to be. But unfortunately some directors WOULD put that front and center instead, making Marta across as one or two dimensional instead of as a full person. Johnson was actually able to do that for every character in the film somehow, and I have to applaud the man for it. My parents had me late in life, my dad was born in 1947 and my mom in 1949 - I was born in 1990. Even as a toddler I tended to bypass cartoons - I would change the channel and watch “Columbo”, “Poirot”, or “Murder, She Wrote” (hilarious to see a YOUNG George Clooney in an old “MSW” episode since it was before he did “ER”). And I legitimately have watched “Clue” probably 50+ times. But by the beginning of the 2000s, the detective shows and movies just felt lifeless. I didn’t want to watch them at all - I wanted my grizzled detective or sweet grandma whose small town should be a ghost town with all the crimes and death that took place there 🤣. Now “Radioland Murders” from 1996 is actually a bit of a mix between “Clue” and “Knives Out” in a sense. It didn’t get great reviews, which is a shame because it IS good, I just feel that the audience had moved past that type of comedic murder mystery by the mid ‘90s with screens being flooded with more serious, ominous takes like “Twin Peaks” or “The X Files”. It seems like maybe we’ve swung back towards the “Clue” style or somewhere in between. Possibly as a response to all the negativity in the world that we sometimes want to see a crime/murder mystery and still be able to laugh.

[@imatlock7250]

Yeah it was pretty cool to see someone from Paraguay in a lead role

[@kiralkot]

Seems like Ryan learned his lesson in this department too.

[@juri3678]

imatlock she‘s cuban!

[@moonycanwatch]

I legit cried when they said she gave the right dose

[@Gross126]

Same!

[@jpgsouza2001]

I got super emotional.

[@pn8937]

Still she was utterly unprofessional ,though....A real life nurse would have read the name of the vial even if it was the only one she carried in her bag cause that is the standard procedure...Watching the inconsistency between the viscosity of the bottles and their label would have made her skip the dose entirely in the first place and so the plot would never unravel....This cop out for salvaging her was kinda cringy for everyone who had a passible knowledge of how health care proffessionals work....

[@Ultistuff]

@@pn8937 Thog don't care, movie needs to movie to be a good movie

[@ginevragaitor9319]

@@pn8937 we will get right on taking her license away

[@amandachristen3454]

I watched this movie with family, obviously expecting a 'Whodunnit?' and then it just got better and better. We actually spent like a month after trying to convince my grandmother to watch it without spoiling, I love this movie so much.

[@eliasfrp]

I loved how in the flashback the victim mentions how Ransom can't distinguish a prop knife from the real one. It was then later perfectly paid off in the finale. A Chaikov's knife if you will.

[@jordandwiggins1026]

What I loved about this movie is how I was able to pick up on certain clues but completely missed the ones that proved the culprit. I totally was suspicious of the scene with randsom and the dogs, I was suspicious of someone swapping the two bottles and I was suspicious of the grandma calling her randsom. And yet I still wasn’t actually suspicious of Randsom as much I should have been because of all the clues that PROVE it was him were so sneaky and the movie did such a good job at making you think Randsom was going to be mistaken for the killer that you don’t think that he actually will be.

[@happyyy1445]

I picked up on the same clues that you did, but that did make me suspicious of Ransom. There was a part of me that didn't want to believe that it was him cuz I wanted to root for "Captain America", but then I realized that's what they WANT me to think. 😂 Imo, the best mysteries lay out the clues so the audience can play detective, but still make it difficult to catch ALL the clues so we can't definitively say who it was (I overlooked the "Hugh" hint). So even though I picked up some pieces of the puzzle, I was still entertained seeing it all come together. I also really enjoyed the callback to Marta's bloody shoes at the end. There was such a dramatic, almost cheesy zoom-in on them in the beginning but so much happened afterwards that I completely forgot about them!

[@masterslayerable]

Same. My first thought was ransom did it, then I was like wait a minute she accidentally "killed" him. But then I thought ransom must have had something to do with it again, but It seemed so obvious at that point that I just stopped looking. Especially after he helped martha and seemed like he just wanted her money. The thing that confused me for most of the movie was how unaffected the granddad seemed from the morphine. Which makes sense, since he never got morphine. I only remembered that the old lady said ransom youre back again already when he sat down with her.

[@woody40000]

I'm with you, I definitely had my suspicions which made it all the more of a fun ride.

[@MaxIronsThird]

the swapped bottle makes no sense, even if the thickness of the liquid is different and one vile might be 20grams heavier than the other, you 'd never go by tact alone.

[@WackMaDino]

definitely spent the movie thinking he was gonna get mistakenly arrested instead of actually having done it

[@Piper_____]

I remember about halfway through the slowmo shot of ransom stabbing Marta, I remembered the “stage prop” quote, and got the biggest, stupidest smile on my face. Not a big twist, but definitely cathartic, foreshadowed way early on, and amazing.

[@KeitieKalopsia]

Same, I realized that, too!

[@ferench1145]

Yeah, I had the same experience watching that scene. Another great of foreshadowing in the movie is that the intro sequence features the "My house, my rules, my coffee" mug. This mug is the same as the one Martha drinks out of while standing on the balcony, towering over the family towards the end of the movie.

[@IMMERSIVEVOICE]

Chekov’s knife

[@ekuu8918]

Exactly the same for me! And as much as twists that blindside you can make for great stories, for my part, I absolutely *love* when the movie drops just enough hints that you figure it right before they tell you. It makes me feel so clever, and the satisfaction of realizing that the pieces are about to come together and then watching them click seamlessly into place is just... chef's kiss.

[@ferench1145]

@@ekuu8918 Another instance of such a moment for me was the flamethrower in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

[@JuliusCaesar103]

I cannot tell you how amazing this movie was to watch. The first time in a long while where it reminded me how good movies can be.

[@MrProdigy810]

You didn’t even mention one of the coolest subversions for me. The fact that the only true murderer was the victim himself who killed himself to protect the maid that thought she had poisoned him only for us to find out that even though Ransom switched the vials, she actually DIDN’T poison him because she’s just good at her job.

[@Ultimatro]

"Ned stark's death was a twist" Umm, he was played by sean bean...

[@exosproudmamabear558]

Yeah it is the biggest foreshadowing all.

[@junichiroyamashita]

Ever seen Sharpe.

[@LuciferLonseraph]

@@junichiroyamashita Sharpe is the exception that proves the rule, my guy. I love Sharpe to death, but the only reason that Sean Bean doesn't die in that series is because they fake-out his death so often that it's a subtrope within the trope - Sean Bean dies at the end of the X, unless there is a fake-out death scene for him, or its a movie with zero deaths (see National Treasure 1).

[@lewismartin3430]

in the book it was a twist.

[@LuciferLonseraph]

@@lewismartin3430 Sure, but he was talking about Game of Thrones, not ASOIAF, so therefore its the show and not the books.

[@Linfamy]

Captain America loses to James Bond.

[@younggamer7218]

Oh cool didn't expect to see you here

[@colonialp9]

Mango Juice

[@Row_of_E]

2.4K likes 2 comments * visible confusion *

[@gunlyte4661]

More like "Spy Agent tries to humiliate a Supehero"

[@oscargill423]

It didn't even occur to me that that was what I thought (and still think) when I first learned the plot of the movie.

[@dilluwengillpran8147]

The reveal for Rey's parentage in The Last Jedi serves a great purpose actually. Johnson doesn't use it as just a plot element to be thrown at the audience for shock value, rather a character arc. Rey not knowing who her parents are and then gradually discovering her immense potential, has led her to believe all that is especial about her, has very likely come from someone else. Johnson portrays Rey as a lost soul who's going around looking for a savior in Luke or Kylo Ren, but only when she makes peace with the fact that here parents were irrelevant and the force has specifically chosen her because of who she is and no one else, can she really believe in her own role to save her friends and the Resistance. She's the messiah that they need but she doesn't know it, and The Last Jedi is her journey to discover that.

[@daniellelarsen9767]

I also loved the twist and didn’t think it was pointless! I think our deep need to have characters with an “important” heritage (in sequels, usually from OG characters) creates this sort of skewed look into the fictional world that, I think, stems from our deep seated classism in society. It creates a world where only a couple people matter because they’re related to only important people. And if you look at it that way, Star Wars is about characters in (at most) two bloodlines (but probably just one) which sends this message that throughout THE ENTIRE GALAXY there lived one family of protagonists and antagonists and their actions dictated the fate of the galaxy. I don’t think that’s a very empowering or (for me personally) a very interesting plot. It’s just like you put it, Rey had to find what was special inside herself because it was her. And not her family. But yeah I can totally your point too about her growing into figuring out who her parents are and then not letting it affect who she knows she is. Very powerful!

[@swatchbox6789]

....And then JJ had to throw it all in the garbage and make her a Palpatine.

[@amarioraphael]

All three comments in this thread are P E R F E C T !

[@weepingwillow_]

i absolutely love when the "nice" character in a movie is the bad guy, like it throws your expectation off so badly and just shocks you in the end, it def increases when you make an actor who mainly plays good guy roles play bad once in a while :)

[@noobmasterruben5167]

It mostly works here because Ransom is a well written character unlike in say: Big hero 6 where nice guy is bad guy. It just makes zero sense and it was just there to shock the audience

[@weepingwillow_]

@@noobmasterruben5167 alright yeah thats a fair point

[@JayCrosby32]

I absolutely loved how at the very end she picked up the note from her dad and knew to light it on fire to decipher it... that was like the cherry on top, the dad was telling the truth about how he wrote it all down and was going to give it to her... MY GOODNESS

[@taylorrayner1394]

I also love the shot later that shows she gave her husband a black eye 😍

[@mjmal3741]

It's like she said, he communicated with her by playing games

[@ClassifiedGamez]

Also when you see the other notes later on they are slightly burnt

[@piratedblockgameclips6437]

Yes! I like how even though she's a pretty unlikable person it's still clear that she genuinely loved her dad and vice versa. Also on my second watch I also noticed how her husband throws away the baseball, Blanc picks it up, later throws it for the dogs, and then Linda gets it from the dogs and returns it to her father's desk, which is how she discovers the letter! Not to mention that Richard was the one who dug up the letter in the first place. So he fully revealed himself while trying to hide his tracks. If he hadn't tried so hard to keep the secret, Linda would never have found out.

[@doomsoul9096]

It’s crazy how just when a genre is starting to become lackluster something always comes to change the game. This movie does just that with murder mysteries.

[@lessondburn3971]

Hopefully Murder on the Nile lives up to the hype

[@jrob4988]

@@lessondburn3971 murder on the orient express was so good, I hope death on the nile will be as good as the first one.

[@lessondburn3971]

@@jrob4988 facts. I haven’t been a fan of “who done it” movies bc they’re usually predictable.. like the movie devil. I accurately guessed the perpetrator, bc it was the least likely to the average person, so I just guessed the opposite. Lol

[@sketchycat6223]

Like pirate movies and then pirates of the Caribbean came out. Or musicals and then La La Land.

[@lukethekuya]

@@sketchycat6223 I wish the same would happen to video game movies soon.

[@Skylerrelyks93]

I absolutely loved Knives Out. Probably my favorite movie in recent times

[@nylaporp1235]

This was your first video I watched and the smooth transition to the AD had me sitting there in shock for a good five minutes

[@jebthepleb492]

When i watched Knives Out I was on board with watching a murder mystery, it would have been my first anyways. However the “how-will-she-get-away-with-it” genre-flip was brilliant and made my experience all the more enjoyable.

[@greencertifiedweb]

Your first? You need to check out Clue, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder by Death and the Maltese Falcon!

[@---cr8nw]

If you enjoyed Knives Out, you'll probably really enjoy the remake of Murder on the Orient Express. Give that one a watch. There are a lot of murder mystery movies, but i like the campy, hokey ones.

[@mcbess8024]

@KnightHart what other movies use this same idea? just wondering

[@cold_chili3356]

Great video! Very insightful! I didn't notice the tip off about the dogs when I watched the film. I love Knives Out and am so happy that they're making more!

[@Phenriir]

What I love about this video is that even after watching it 3 times I was still surprised at how everything worked out in the film when I watched it for the first time.

[@sifatshams1113]

Also, this film is quite literally a Hugh-done-it.

[@birb125]

"Because you made her call you Hugh, cause you're an asshole" Best line

[@lymphhh]

Hugh-donut

[@geez_man333]

Sometimes, I love the internet

[@ironwraith852]

@@lymphhh WELL DONE!

[@iTyncWithReality]

Got me! Laughed out loud!

[@seregostmcoc]

To me, Knives Out is less Johnson saying "Hey, I learned my lesson from Last Jedi!" and more Johnson saying "Hey, you know those storytelling elements you said were unequivocally bad in Last Jedi? Well, they're not, and here's why."

[@jsmarty1]

100%. People were just way too salty and overprotective of their Star Wars films, that all Disney had to do was make something bland and uncontroversial. And they fucked that up. And personally I’d say it was the best film of the 3. That’s because it wasn’t afraid to piss people off. It wasn’t afraid to be unpredictable. And yes, while at times there were stupid moments (Leia flying threw space, Luke chucking the lightsaber), overall, it was entertaining and the most emotional film of the lot (at least for me)

[@maximeteppe7627]

I think the issues in last Jedi have all in all very little to do with the twists. (I liked them for the most part). It has more to do with the impossibility of satisfying a fanbase that had already split at least twice (the prequels weren't exactly universally loved, neither was the force awakens) with very different expectations. Also the movie tries to blend a race against the clock, a training montage and a financial critique side plot: it doesn't really succeed in making all feel significant and well paced, but it's not as if it were easy. Also, blockbuster are very hard to do, more than movie snobs like me give them credit for. Sure, I love my bong joo ho's, my greta gerwigs and so on, but If they were asked to do a star wars film, the result would cause just as much backlash (as much as I'd love to see the result). Hell, Guillermo del toro's more indie films are seen as masterpieces, while his blockbuster are fun but don't enjoy the same prestige. I think it shows that expectations for blockbuster are higher than for any other type of movie. That spectacle is incredibly hard to conciliate with plot, theme and emotion.

[@nobilior3217]

jsmarty1 How was it emotional? Because he ruined Luke Skywalker, killed off the Snoke, the whole casino side plot that was ridiculous or that Throne room fight scene that was so horribly choreographed. He was just the wrong choice and made a terrible movie. I’m not a salty Star Wars fan and I watched Knives Out and it was great.

[@isaiahbright7546]

I think it's a mixture of things TBH. Subverting expectations can be done well and done badly, I think the backlash to TLJ was very over the top I think it was OK as a movie but not great there were some really good ideas in it but also some bad ones. Another major issue is he didn't get to do the movie before or after it doesn't set up much for the next movie at all except the relationship between Rey and Kylo and it didn't really expand in the ideas from the previous movie much either. Basically he isn't a bad writer but there were bad things in it and circumstances made it seem worse than the actual movie was.

[@blitz8425]

@@techzone1552 "objectively bad" Ok, God.

[@Critical0811]

As someone who enjoyed the last jedi I love the fact that Ryan improved upon a concept I already enjoyed and perfected it.

[@anissiaart6167]

When I watched that movie for the first time it was the most satisfying movie experience ever )) Wish I could rewatch it without knowing how it goes ) I think what adds to its perfection is also that it is not only entertaining but also really GOOD, like it give us the best sense of justice, and it has a really positive moral, and makes us care deeply about all three main good characters

[@kiter.]

I honestly thought that Harlan switched the bottles, hired the detective, gave all of his will to Marta, and made Marta go through with the plan to test Blanc. He started arguments to make it more complicated, and he gave Marta all of his will because he knew Marta would get caught, so it would revert back to the old will. I thought since he was talking about how he didn’t care about his life anymore that would mean he would sacrifice his life for... fun.

[@Samuel-ut7mj]

Same

[@zoch9797]

That would have been the dumbest idea ever, so I was tempted to think Rian originally planned it that way. Fortunately Rian was just smart enough to not do that.

[@bigmonke3906]

Rian directed breaking bads ozymandias which is the highest rated episode of television so I think he’s not that bad

[@Nai_101]

@@bigmonke3906 he directed Fly too. One of the best episodes, even though it's filler

[@bigmonke3906]

@@Nai_101 yeah I know

[@miroshkaheiskanen608]

I really enjoyed watching how genuinely excited you are talking about this movie and how you want to share your excitement with us. That's what filmmaking is all about.

[@smile--]

That was the smoothest ad transition I've ever seen

[@TheNarutokusanagi]

My favorite part of the movie where the characters, and i liked how they all assumed the origin of Marta descent each in different countries of Latin America, but no one said Cuban and i could figure it out beacuse of the accent when she speak with her mom.

[@tuxedomask3483]

As a mixed brown person that hit me so hard in the funnybones because it happens ALL THE TIME

[@elisabethschmerzler963]

I think what added to the humor (at least for me) was how they were basically naming just any Latin or South American country that came to mind, not taking into account the economic or social differences- but just assuming that all of them were in major struggle or at the same level of development

[@aqua8948]

I noticed this during the interview scenes and thought it would come back later in the movie to mean something and by the end I was confused it didn’t then it hit me the reason they all got it wrong was because they didn’t care none of them however Harlan the one who spent the most time with her the only person who truly cared about her and who was the only one to really care about him would have known I think the mistakes on where she was from just show how selfish and in their own head each of them are and that’s why none of them got the will cause they didn’t deserve it they didn’t truly care they were only thinking about themselves

[@Dylan_Platt]

Yeah, I noticed that as the movie went on and thought at first it was a hint that Marta had been lying to all of them about her past/origins, but eventually realized it's just to demonstrate how little the family cares about her despite saying otherwise.

[@Ubayla]

That was one of my favorite re-occurring jokes. Just a small thing, not even acknowledged by the movie, and yet fit the themes and was so funny on its own.

[@feyfeline]

He's single handedly convinced me to watch Knives Out again

[@hellxbabie764]

I stopped this video and watched it on prime and am now back to finish this video 😂😂 i saw knives out in theatres and he is CORRECT its SO GOOD

[@matthewdavis8774]

@@hellxbabie764 saaamee

[@Gazmus]

also same :)

[@comdrive3865]

I watched it yesterday. I rewatcehd the entire thing today. was worth it both times.

[@stereoheart.806]

one does not need many hands to be convinced to watch knives out.

[@flervest3407]

Knives out is definitely one of my favorite movies. A joy to try and solve the mystery as the plot unfolds

[@velvet_echo]

I actually really like the scene where Luke just chucks the lightsaber. He had left it where it was on purpose and he is bitter and mad that someone wants to be trained by him when he feels like a failure. Loved the video overall!

[@quirkyjoeAnimated]

Yeah, I am with you on that - and at the end of ROTJ he throws away his lightsaber rather than continue to use it in anger. This video seems to miss that The Last Jedi's 'shock moments' completely come from character and connect to the themes of what to do with failure.

[@Kingofredeyes]

Ned Starks death was foreshadowed before Ned Stark was ever on screen. It was the moment you saw "Sean Bean" in the cast during the opening.

[@Coolguy98765432q457]

Facts

[@Bethgael]

Ned Stark's death was obviously coming even in the books, before the show was a glimmer in anyone's eye, especially if you knew anything about the War of the Roses.

[@spandexter1234]

My real name is Sean Bane and my social life is people calling me Sean Bean and killing me

[@RomanZolanski123]

spandexter 123 this sounds like an anime title

[@Larsonlaneent]

the likes lol

[@delpritts8018]

I love when people freak out about things they’re passionate about

[@judichristopher4604]

I agree 100%

[@moosenman]

This movie is one of my absolute favorites. I love mystery stories, and I’m used to trying to sort out clues. This movie really flipped my expectations and I couldn’t be happier.

[@Switzclips]

The way you added in the audible ad was amazingly smooth.

[@ps7372]

Chris Evans was honestly my favorite character in the whole movie, he was just so hilarious.

[@SAMSARALIVEEEEEE]

For me it was Blanc, i love the idea of a charismatic but silly detective, he just made me laugh with anything he did. Like that donut monologue or him singing in the car

[@comdrive3865]

@@SAMSARALIVEEEEEE Blanc was hilarious and interesting. But evans was funny too, eat shit!. lol Blanc takes the cake for sure. Ana de armas is talented too

[@yoda0017]

"Eat shit, eat shit, and eat shit." I just lost it at that bit xD

[@Sylpharts]

Let's talk about that donut analogy for a minute

[@mjmal3741]

I bet ol Dan Craig had a fun time with that one! On a serious note though, over the course of the movie there's a sort of mini-arc for CSI KFC where he begins as the mysterious, almost magically powerful detective, then we are sucessively shown him sort of failing to put it all together. I started to get the sense of how human and fallible our detective was, especially when he was singing alone in the car while the ambulance pulled up. He waxes poetic over several scenes in the beginning as he's trying to figure it out, only to ramble about donuts when the truth does finally come to him. The final chef's kiss on this arc is when it's revealed that he had seen the blood stain the whole time, restoring all his Sherlock Holmes cred. Fucking outstanding

[@Sylpharts]

@@mjmal3741 It was great. I'm excited for the sequel as well.

[@doctordeathdefying132]

@@Sylpharts, I’m so excited!

[@askelad2778]

@@mjmal3741 Yeah thats why i dont understand why people calling him stupid... U can see he knows martha is hiding something but he knows also thats martha would be the worst murderer ever bc of the vomit thing

[@Cooky_McGee]

@@mjmal3741 "CSI KFC" XD

[@cassandrasheek8510]

I want to do an entire study of all the tropes and writing devices used in this film. It's jam packed with so many amazing bits!!!!

[@KYoshikage123]

I recently watched this film, and as a film studies student, I wouldn't be surprised if this film is studied in the future. So beautifully crafted, with a documentary type film for the first 20 minutes or so, only to subvert expectations due to the characters. The camera gets shakier as the film goes on, representing Marta's paranoia taking her over. This film is genuinely one of the best films technically that I've ever watched. In terms of the story, it was really good, although I have seen better films. It will take a lot for a film to dethrone my number 1 film.

[@jackharrington6397]

I love how the baseball has a journey throughout the film and eventually makes its way back to its starting place

[@crossenmorgan]

Ngl I thought that the baseball would have a huge plot point but nothing happened 😂😂😂

[@JonathanS344]

@@crossenmorgan yeah I was waiting for some payoff but never got it. A little disappointed ngl, but maybe I've completely missed the meaning behind the ball.

[@kiramaticc]

@@JonathanS344 The baseball is what leads Jamie Lee Curtis' character to the note that reveals that her husband was cheating on her. It starts off with her husband throwing the baseball out of the window at the beginning, and that baseball eventually found its way to Jamie Lee Curtis' character. Her husband was trying so hard to hide his infidelity, but it was the consequences of him trying to hide his infidelity that got him caught. That was the payoff in my opinion.

[@admiralfischi3110]

It would be much more satisfying if Reys parents were nobody.

[@artisticcannibalism1350]

I literally cannot agree more.

[@aggressivelymediocre350]

That probably should have been the one major subversion kept in that movie. It would actually give Rey a character arc if they actually followed up on it.

[@ryleewilson9608]

Exactly, While the mystery was interesting and fun. I enjoy the ending message that anyone can be a Jedi. That you don't need a famous lineage that's literally changed the course of history already. It's why I also loved the force sensitive kid in that film that was on the casino world. Another child nobody but with the potential for greatness.

[@victoriafelix5932]

Re: Rey’s parentage - 1) can we be sure the promise has been broken? could this be, potentially be, misdirection? sleight of hand? 2) since the promise was made by another, elsewhere, why should he wear the blame that that other - instead - should bear?

[@seanerzat]

I agree but the verisimilitude was broken due to her obscene power levels already. We had three movies in 99 and the 00's that had a heavy focus on Anakin's power and how it was due to his Chosen One nature. And everything could've been awesome with her having no special linneage and them keeping it fairly mid-levelish tame power levels (or at least have her train dang it), but then Rey lifts a megaton of rocks at the end of TLJ with the established fact she had no special parentage and just utterly out-performs Luke or Anakin or everyone ever and the consistency of the franchise got yeeted, sad times

[@willdaly8361]

This movie was insane in the theater. Will be a classic for years to come, one of the best written films in the past 10 years

[@dawarrior95]

You gotta watch better films then

[@notamillionaire1430]

you being so excited about this movies makes me want to rewatch it again!! i love this

[@PangolinMontanari]

"And as a writer, you should always be looking for new resources..." Me: "Aw shit, here we go again"

[@TacoMan99]

Bruh when she projectile vomited on chris evans face because she lied to get the confession was outright hilarious 😂 I think that had to be the most satisfying thing to come out of a mystery film.

[@ethansturch9397]

I am so glad o paused this video for 2 hours so i could watch the film and not get it spoiled, like actual gold, u explain it perfectly.

[@Shiny_Plume]

Another thing about Knives Out that is so brilliant about the change in genre is that even if you think you knew who did it at the beginning, framing it as an accidental poisoning and suicide where the main character tries to get away with it is just brilliant. As soon as Ransom (Chris Evans) showed up I figured he might have been the killer because, unlike everyone else, he had no motivation to find out who did it and he only cared about the money. But then they showed what happened that night from the main character who doesn’t lie’s perspective, and I thought “well, then it definitely isn’t him”. So that when the entire family tries to confront Martha and Ransom is the only one trying to help her, it makes sense because he was never interested in who killed Harlan, he just wanted the money he was supposedly screwed out of getting his whole life. So while you know he is doing it for selfish reasons, he at least is helping the main character. It’s only when someone else is getting killed, one of the characters that was on to Ransom the whole time, that the murder mystery plot comes back into play, because at that moment you realize that maybe the murder mystery is not over and there really was a killer trying to frame the original murder as an accidental suicide. It’s brilliant and it makes Ransom a compelling villain because of his clever way of going about his plan.

[@Sina-aka-potatosupreme]

The one plot twists that got me celebrating was when Ransom thinks the housekeeper is still alive in the hospital and confesses to everything, just to see Marta puke on the floor. THAT was an amazing twist. We were always told she can't lie, but at that moment she fought literally for her life.

[@klc7275]

I don't think Ransom being the murderer was "damn near impossible" to figure out. When he started helping Marta, I knew it was him. To me, that's what made it so great. You figure out who it is, but there are still a ton of fun twists at the end. Like the fact that he actually died by suicide and if Ransom hadn't killed Fran, he would've gotten away with it. It's funny that we all had different experiences while watching this film and it was still great to all of us. I think that's the thing that makes it exceptional. I also think its brilliance is in the juxtaposition of Marta and Ransom. They both played by their own rules. They went against everyone to try to protect themselves. Marta lied to police, took them on a car chase, destroyed evidence, etc. The difference is that, in protecting herself, Marta never wanted to hurt anyone else. Ransom didn't give a fuck. That's a twist in this movie just like everything else. Like I mentioned before, Ransom couldn't stop himself from killing Fran to keep framing and intimidating Marta. On the other hand, Marta couldn't stop herself from saving lives, like she tried to do with Fran. That's why she "won."

[@user-zr3vb1rx2q]

Why do you call "fact that he actually died by suicide" a twist? I mean, i know why I DID. It was really oblivios he didn't dying. I mean, that's actually has been spoken. 8 mins and he didn't even get high, not overdosed for sure. And the knife shows a bit before Go game starts. So, i was totally distructed by this idea, this is all his own game, and somehow he is alive, or at least have a plan (which will auto work somehow) to test Marta. He is a detective writer after all. How he actually cut his throat is shown with Marta flashback and should be the fact.

[@jacobstevens7046]

THIS IS ME. I was POSITIVE Ransom was the killer but for the life of me couldn't figure out HOW. It made the movie even more interesting.

[@laserdemonfrostmage8421]

The suicide thing was not really a twist but I kinda want to call bull on calling off the investigation to find out the truth get the actual suspect who tampered the meds and tried to get martha arrested or such.

[@areebanwar9229]

exacly we knew it was him when he started helping out but i love how once again the attention was diverted to how could it be him and will he get caught and am i wrong to think its him.

[@FilmFan-iv7sz]

Ransom wasn't the killer of harlan just fran

[@JoeEnglandShow]

I will say, personally, I actually quite enjoyed Rey's parents being nobodies. The inherited greatness schtick had been done to death, so that twist was one of my favorite things in the movie. I expected a big reveal, I didn't see it coming at all, and I liked the result. I was disappointed when they walked it back in the following movie! I accepted the promise being broken because it was something I've come to expect and no longer wanted. But I guess there's no accounting for taste. Incidentally, I'll also mention that I had a suspicion that someone had switched that medicine right from the start, because I do love feeling clever.

[@EAncients]

Throughly disagree with the evaluation of TLJ, however, the analysis is spot on and I think your critique of it is one of the more convincing ones I've heard. Also, yes to everything you've said about Knives Out.

[@emilygracey]

*nod* Yup, all of this 🙌

[@mattatr0n677]

I actually didn't think it was Chris Evans because of how obvious it was that he was the (sort of) killer.

[@mankytoes]

Yeah, I think they say several times "Ransom's an asshole". One of the biggest murder mystery cliches is the most obviously "evil" or obnoxious person isn't the killer. My running theory at halfway was that Christopher Plummer set the whole thing up, even though I couldn't really make sense of it in my head.

[@laserdemonfrostmage8421]

mankytoes it actually would be possible to set it all up IF he has help with Ransom overall (being the killer of the game and all) But still that nailed on ransom as a suspect since dogs don’t lie, murderers tend to be too sympathetic and helpful to the one being “guilty” of the crime and all. Not to mention the dead giveaway of the dialogue

[@birb125]

The best part of this twist is that when its revealed The Nurse "accidentally" overdosed Harlen, it makes the audience think that he was just a red Herring since we "know" who killed Harlen.

[@henrikaugustsson4041]

I get it, “it can’t be him, it’s too obvious.” And then it was, and everyone (except me and other smart people) were surprised…

[@birb125]

@@henrikaugustsson4041 no offense, but the "Except me and other smart people" line is extremely weird. but yeah, the point of it is that it flipped the stereotypical Red Herring into just a straight murderer

[@krisztinaflora9912]

Your bit explaining foreshadowing came at an excellent time because yesterday i watched the newer Death on the Nile film with my mother and wasn't able to put the words together explaining why the ending was so unsatisfying, and the mystery so frustrating. Stumbled across this video and when i got to that part i immediately tracked her down and showed her, so thanks a bunch for putting into words what i understood but could not articulate.

[@devinswerissen]

17:21 i also loved that the dad foreshadowed this scene when he said that ransom 'couldnt tell a prop from a real knife'

[@mazerunner7640]

The three rules you set are nearly perfect those rules are the reason I enjoy AoT so much was when they revealed who the colossal and armored titan is, you then realize it was hinted at from the start, there isn’t a single contradiction with earlier parts of the story, and it continues the entire story line

[@ssh995]

YES! easily my favorite scene in all of aot was when we found out it was reiner and bert (and i definitely didn’t cry when i watched it the first time)

[@kuzz1191]

truth, that is another great subversion that blew my mind at the time

[@mazerunner7640]

Honestly looking back I definitely had recentcy bias when I made that comment but it was still a pretty good subversion

[@grimmreaper1594]

I love how they just… said it My dad was so fucking confused lmfao

[@laffytaffy1467]

@@grimmreaper1594 "Hey, Eren, we're titans" -camera fades away as he just calmly explains it

[@erikandchristine102]

This is absolutely the best mystery movie I have seen in a long long time. The twist was excellent and it made me excited to see other movies that try this style again.

[@olivermartin3772]

One of the smoothest audible adds I’ve ever seen