Writer/director Rian Johnson certainly hasn’t lost his fiendishly macabre touch.
Although it runs a bit too long, this third entry in the Knives Out series is another gleeful descent into depraved behavior, with a stellar cast dropped into the middle of a twisty whodunit. Orchestrating its slow unraveling, as before, is Daniel Craig’s idiosyncratic private detective, Benoit Blanc.
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| Under the watchful gaze of Police Chief Scott (Mila Kunis) and Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor, right), Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) examines an unexpected clue. |
But we don’t meet Blanc until the second act. Employing his usual penchant for non-linear storytelling, Johnson first introduces us to ex-boxer turned devout young priest Jud Duplenticy (John O’Connor), who regards himself as “young, dumb and full of Christ.” He narrates earlier events while writing … what? A witness statement? A confession? A memoir?
Duplenticy lives with the burden of having killed a fellow fighter during his boxing days, the shame of which drove him into the priesthood. But his temper still gets away from him at times, most recently resulting in a “reprimand” that finds him sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, in upstate New York’s Chimney Rock (shades of Stephen King!).
He’s assigned to assist firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), who rules this tiny parish with a blend of charismatic smarm and thundering, shock-and-awe sermons. In short, he’s a sadistic bully … and proud of it.
The primary members of his flock — those who tolerate or cater to Wicks’ whims, or (worse yet) believe in his God-given powers — include:
• staunchly faithful church-goer Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close);
• tightly wound lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington);
• town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner);
• bestselling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott);
• aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack);
• wheelchair-bound concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeney); and
• circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church).
Wicks doesn’t take kindly to Duplenticy’s arrival, assuming the young man has been sent by Mother Church to replace him. He therefore misses no opportunity to bait the newcomer, and quickly turns the community against him.
Along the way, we learn more about the key players. Dr. Sharp has a serious drinking problem; Ross, suffering from writer’s block, is unable to deliver a sequel to his first hit novel; Draven seems an eyeblink away from a nervous breakdown; Vivane chafes at the affliction that has compromised her once-promising music career; Delacroix is more waspishly misanthropic than Wicks; and Draven obnoxiously films everybody and everything with his ubiquitous video equipment.
Soon enough, a murder occurs … under apparently impossible circumstances that suggest divine intervention. Bewildered local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) summons Blanc, who finally appears as the story’s second act begins. Duplenticy’s written chronology of events is what brings the detective up to speed.
Blanc naturally scoffs at any suggestion of spiritual involvement. “I kneel at the altar of the rational,” he insists. He’s much more inclined to believe in the unholy trinity of greed, jealousy or betrayal … or some combination thereof.
He recognizes being confronted with a clever twist on classic locked-room mysteries such as John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man (referenced, more than once, as this saga continues).
Although Craig is this film’s nominal star, O’Connor’s beleaguered Duplenticy gets the lion’s share of screen time. O’Connor plays this role with heartfelt angst and sincerity, with poor Duplenticy becoming increasingly worried and frightened, as he keeps turning up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Or is his humble bearing merely a clever ruse?
Close is hilariously over the top as the viciously nasty Delacroix, given to eyebrow-raising bursts of baroque profanity. Renner is earnest and worried as Dr. Sharp, and McCormack makes Draven a constantly intrusive pain in the rear. Scott gradually turns Ross into a study of full-blown mania.
Kunis deftly walks a fine line. Chief Scott obviously is intelligent and perceptive; she’s no “overwhelmed Watson” to Craig’s superior Blanc. She simply recognizes that this particular case requires a specialist’s touch … and Blanc, to his credit, treats her as an equal.
Church’s Holt and Spaeny’s Vivane are closed books. Both observe much and say little, nonetheless giving the impression of retaining deep secrets.
Washington, alas, doesn’t bring much to the party.
Rick Heinrichs’ production design is fabulous, starting with the primary church setting: a gothic edifice by way of Edgar Allan Poe, laden with luxurious religious iconography and projections of power. The looming pulpit personifies Wicks’ malevolent presence, in keeping with the carved sword-bearing angels that enhance his Earth-bound stature as a medieval, wrathful God who hovers over his small congregation.
(It’s impossible to believe that anybody else in Chimney Rock would endure more than one Sunday worship service in such a setting, lambasted by Wicks’ fire-and-brimstone fanaticism … which does rather beg the question of how Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude has survived this long.)
As always, details are crucial in Johnson’s fiendish machinations. He plays with form as much as function, delighting in classic murder mystery conventions while simultaneously sending them up. (It’s also impossible to miss the glaring parallel to a certain real-world despot and his toadying followers.)
Nothing happens without a reason; when some characters wind up in a local saloon, you can bet something significant will occur there. Having said that, don’t make the mistake of assuming you’ll notice the important clues eventually revealed by Blanc; this is a true puzzle inside a riddle, wrapped in an enigma.
All three of Johnson’s Knives Out films have run long, but — at 144 minutes — this one feels stretched a bit too much. This impression also results from Craig’s comparatively lessened screen time. With his sly smile, keen gaze and always significant body language, Blanc is by far the most interesting character; we want to see more of him!
Mostly, though, this threequel isn’t quite as much fun as its predecessors, and that’s also missed. The setting and plot don’t lend themselves as readily to snarky humor.
Even so, the end result is thoroughly captivating. Johnson manipulates us viewers like a master puppeteer, and that’s a rare gift.
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