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I watched the new Knives Out movie, and while the mystery plot was fun enough, my enjoyment of the movie was severely hampered by politics. I saw the previous Knives Out movie so I knew what to expect, but I do feel like this just went above and beyond. Minor spoilers to follow.
My wife was disappointed that I let politics ruin a good movie for me, but really, I think that the filmmakers honestly don't want you to view this movie as just a fun murder mystery without the context of politics. The movie is all about making a heavy handed political statement.
The movie just seemed like a pulpit for Rian Johnson to talk about how much he hates Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and various other people. I almost feel like the entire plot is really the secondary goal. The main goal of him making this was to implant and grow a brain worm in the audience that every famous rich person is connected, really part of a cabal that got what they got through no talent of their own, took advantage of individuals and the world at large, contribute nothing, and are evil, vile, worthless, and bratty pieces of shit.
Nowhere in the movie do they ever display the slightest amount of sympathy for anyone besides the detective and the poor black woman who was taken advantage of (major spoiler:or her secret twin sister ). I guess this movie really makes me feel like in order to write good compelling characters, you really have to love them, or have the capacity to love them, or maybe just respect and understand and empathize with them. Rian Johnson clearly does none of this, and his utter contempt for them just seeps through. He comes across like a high school kid writing screenplays to take pot shots at people he hates.
I don't know, I really can't believe that this movie has gotten so much praise. It really irritates me, and just seems like lazy complaining.
Other minor, non political gripe:
The movie came to a screeching halt when they decided to have the entire 3rd quarter of the movie as a flashback. I think small flashbacks are great in mystery stories, but the decision to have over a half hour told in flashback made me feel like it was dragging, and made me want it to just get back to advancing the plot.
The first movie, Knives Out, was clearly about and a celebration of white dispossession, with the final scene consisting of the Latina housekeeper who has inherited the mansion looking down on the disinherited, evil white family from the balcony with a mug that says "my house, my rules, my coffee." I haven't seen the new one yet, but it sounds like another "all the white people are evil except the detective" plot.
I really liked Knives Out, even though I do have a mild allergic reaction to overt woke messaging. There were several "good guy" white characters, including the old dead rich white man. Yes, the 1st-generation Latina is the one winning out in the end, it's obviously a movie of its time, but I think it did a pretty good job of being detective-movie-for-the-Trump-era. The family of humorously horrible people is very much a mix of clueless conservatives and out of touch liberal elites, and I think both sides are getting poked fun at. Also, it's just good in its own right. The clever inversion of the traditional detective story arc, while leaning into classic mystery tropes, was very well-done.
Curious to see how I feel about the sequel.
It's been quite some time since I've seen it, so I may have forgotten some details, but I don't think the family elder is a good person. Yes, the movie wants us to see him in a sympathetic light, but why should I care about the authorial intent?
His children are portrayed as an ungrateful bunch yes, but as the meme goes "My brother in Christ, you raised the children". What I see here is a story of a man who lucked into having a world-class talent in something (writing), and when his kids turned out to be only ordinary people he used his status to instill lifelong inferiority complexes in all of them. Taunting them about how they didn't manage to escape the long shadow of his fame, and when they grew up resentful and bitter using that bitterness as a proof that he was right to taunt them in the first place.
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One of my biggest issues with the first film was that we were not supposed to hate the SJW girl as much as the rest of the family, basically just by virtue of her being an SJW. Even though she did bad things, too, but she was portrayed sympathetically.
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I also agree that you can identify and critique "woke messaging" but still enjoy a film on its own merits - writing, acting, story, etc. I also enjoyed the first movie, although I was far more offended by Daniel Craig's Southern accent than I was by the film's celebration of white replacement.
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