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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.
This is like wokesters who see the boogieman of racism everywhere; they view everything as a manifestation of their obsession. Yes, the family was white, but it was also rich. To the extent that the movie was "clearly about" anything, it was about class, not race. And stories about rich people getting their comeuppance at the hands of the servants go back at least to Moliere, but probably much longer -- I don't recall much about the Greek comedies. And the trope of the rich guy leaving his money to some modest person and disinheriting his greedy relatives is obviously one which has been endlessly repeated; it does not become "about white dispossession" just because the housekeeper happens to be Hispanic (and it is not as if Hispanic housekeepers are a rarity).
But, Knives Out wasn't even about that; the family members got their comeuppance at their own hands. They dispossessed themselves. The housekeeper did not trick or manipulate them ala Moliere; she did nothing to cause their disinheritance. Had she not been around, he would have left the money to charity, or his cat, or whatever.
Sometimes a cigar is, indeed, just a cigar.
In the same way, the writers do not believe white people are worthy of the inheritance of the country, or "the estate." Of course they are going to depict the white people in the story of not being worthy of their inheritance, and the minority character does nothing wrong in the entire film. In fact, that's a plot twist of the first film: you thought the housekeeper made a big mistake but it turns out she was completely innocent and didn't make a mistake at all. In the sequel, too, they portray the success of the white man as having been stolen from the black woman. To say that this is about class and not about race is missing the mark.
I don't think you watched the film very closely. Rian Johnson slams this over the head of the audience. There were a lot of lines and scenes that put the film in a racialized context, i.e.:
Of course, the final shot of the film is Marta looking down from the balcony with a mug that says "My House." Even National Review picked up on it, for whatever that's worth.
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