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Knives Out
Movie

Knives Out

2019 • Comedy, Crime, Drama

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Plot

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's disfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.

Overall Series Review

The film utilizes the classic whodunit format as a vehicle for thinly veiled social and political commentary. The investigation into the wealthy Thrombey family's patriarch is designed to systematically expose the entire extended family as entitled, morally bankrupt, and incompetent. The narrative establishes a clear binary between the white, privileged, and corrupt Thrombeys and the non-white, virtuous, and hyper-competent immigrant nurse, Marta. The story's ultimate conclusion delivers a pointed message about the moral unworthiness of the established elite and the inherent moral superiority of the outsider. The film is less a mystery and more an allegory about class, immigration, and the transfer of generational power from the corrupt American elite to the deserving new American.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics9/10

The plot's central conflict and resolution are entirely predicated on intersectional hierarchy, where the pure-hearted, determined woman from a racial minority battles against entitled white men. The entire Thrombey family is white, and they are consistently depicted as greedy, selfish, or outright evil, while the immigrant nurse, Marta, is the only character of pure virtue. The story is interpreted as a direct lecture on white privilege and systemic oppression, culminating in the non-white character winning the ancestral home.

Oikophobia8/10

The traditional institution of the wealthy American family is framed as entirely dysfunctional, ungrateful, and fundamentally corrupt. The entire Thrombey clan is shown as self-serving individuals motivated by greed, viewing the 'home' and 'birthright' as something they are entitled to without merit. The virtuous immigrant is portrayed as spiritually superior, being the only one worthy to inherit and stand in possession of the established family's 'ancestral home' at the film's conclusion.

Feminism7/10

The female protagonist, Marta, is a 'Mary Sue' figure, instantly perfect and incorruptible, whose moral virtue is her ultimate superpower, enabling her to defeat a complex, male-driven murder scheme. She is the moral and intellectual superior to almost all the male characters, including the toxic male villain, Ransom, and several bumbling male family members. The narrative centers on her individual professional and financial triumph over a corrupted male establishment.

LGBTQ+2/10

The core narrative does not center on alternative sexualities or gender ideology. The main conflict is focused on race, class, and wealth transfer. A side character's liberal arts degree is described as 'crypto-Marxist postdeconstructual feminist poetry theory,' which is a jab at academic ideological studies, but the film contains no overt lecturing on queer theory.

Anti-Theism3/10

The film's moral framework is based on traditional virtues such as kindness, honesty, and goodness winning out over greed, selfishness, and deceit. The conflict is primarily material and social, not spiritual or religious. Traditional religion is neither overtly celebrated nor vilified, though a sense of objective moral law is implied by the virtuous nature of the protagonist and the ultimate exposure of the villain.