Rating of
3.5/4
A Contemporary Ode to the Whodunnit Past
James - wrote on 11/29/19
What makes this movie so special for me is how it takes the tropes that define the genre the film belongs to and juxtaposes it with a more contemporary style of film-making. The film feels like something made less for fans of the crime novel and more for people who just want to enjoy going to the movies. You are caught up in the family squabbles that feel so real, at least when I think about the ones I have had. Thanksgiving was yesterday and this film plays exactly like what those dinners are probably like if the family is politically apart from each other. Johnson uses terms like alt-right troll and "liberal snowflake", not for depth, but for laughs. Daniel Craig delivers a line near the end of the film that made me laugh as hard as I have all year in the cinema.
Of course for a film that feels familiar to work, it has to have a screenplay that is well formulated in such a way that you are getting something new from something old. The actors, and I'll get them later, are fine, but it is the dialogue and writing that defines the identity of what this film is, almost serving as an homage to great authors like Agatha Christie without becoming reliant on them. One of the major differences for me between a hackneyed copy cat and a wonderful homage falls on how the movies script works. This script is wonderful and it doesn't help that Johnson is the director also so he is able to capture the full extent of what he wants from it.
Everyone in this cast is phenomenal. You get to see Chris Evans in both the role of an asshole, as well as one that provides him a chance to do more work. It is a meaty role, one that we are not seeing him used to doing. It could have been a bust right there, but Johnson's work with Evan's helped make him one of the best performances in the movie, if not the best. I would continue on by saying that the supporting cast, while not reaching the heights of the supporting players in Irishman and Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, are all on their A game. Daniel Craig delivers a wondrous dose of southern ham and cheese in his performance and matches well with Lakeith Stanfield. Don Johnson, Toni Colette, and Jamie Lee Curtis all deliver performances expected of people with their reputations. Michael Shannon and Christopher Plummer are also amazing.
The MVP of the actors though has to be Ana De Armas. She perfectly captures how this whole this might affect someone who didn't have the familial connection to the deceased that the rest did. When thrust into that kind of circumstance I am sure the emotions that would go through someones head would be much greater than I could handle, and Ana De Armas portrayed that shock, conflict, and loyalty with her best performance ever. It is her movie, the rest of the cast just lives in it.
