While superhero movies and cinematic universes seem to get all the attention in Hollywood these days, there are occasionally some original movies that really hit a chord with audiences. Few movies in recent memory have been as crowd-pleasing and fun as Rian Johnson's murder-mystery comedy, Knives Out. The movie featured an all-star cast of colorful characters in a story that paid homage to the whodunnit tales from the likes of Agatha Christie. And at the center of it all was Daniel Craig as the brilliant sleuth, Benoit Blanc. Not only was Knives Out a big hit and nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, but it has now kick-started its own franchise.
This spring came news that Netflix would be paying a whopping $450 million for two sequels to Knives Out with Rian Johnson writing and directing both movies. Though cast members from the first movie like Chris Evans and Jamie Lee Curtis will not be returning, Daniel Craig will once again star, headlining a brand-new Benoit Blanc mystery rather than continuing the story of the first movie. This time around, Blanc is joined by a new batch of characters who will likely be suspects in a new murder investigation. Once again, Knives Out 2 has assembled a wonderful cast of big names including Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, Ethan Hawke, Kathryn Hahn, and Leslie Odom Jr. to name only some.
With such a big cast, it seems the sequel will follow the same idea of the first movie as Blanc investigated the death of the patriarch of a wealthy family. As the various family members, each with their own motives and secrets, are gathered in the house, Blanc looks at the facts in front of him to determine which of them could have killed the old man. It is the kind of story that has been seen in countless murder-mystery movies, from Murder on the Orient Express to Clue. However, Johnson is obviously a big mystery fan, so while he paid loving homage to some of the ones that came before, he also used the audience expectation for these mysteries to turn the whole thing on its head and approach it from a fresh and exciting way.
Before teaming with Danie Craig's 007 as a Bond girl in No Time to Die, Ana de Armas starred alongside him in Knives Out. She plays Marta Cabrera, the nurse to Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), the man whose death is at the center of the story. Though Blanc is the detective in the story, Marta is very much the heart of Knives Out but also at the center of one of the movie's biggest twists. When the movie begins, it seems as though Harlan killed himself following his birthday party only for Blanc to be brought on to take a look at the suspicious death.
Within the first act of the movie, as the mystery begins to build and the suspects begin to line up, the movie does the unexpected – it shows the audience how Harlan died. A flashback shows Marta accidentally giving Harlan the wrong medicine that would surely kill him. In an attempt to absolve Marta of any wrongdoing, Harlan decides to make it look like a suicide. Immediately, Knives Out sets itself apart from other murder mysteries by doing something completely unexpected. It was that decision that was a big part of what made Knives Out so special. But can the sequel pull a better trick?
Fans of the first movie will be returning to the sequel expecting Johnson to find another way to approach the whodunnit in a unique way. When audiences go into a murder mystery story, they know in the end the detective will uncover the truth and point to the true killer. And while that can be a satisfying wrap-up, Knives Out showed how much fun can be had by playing around with that formula. Not only was it a refreshing new way to approach a structure of storytelling that fans know well, but it also helped solve one of the biggest issues of the murder mystery genre.
Whenever audiences go into these movies, they are trying to solve the crime before the end of the detective does. As a result, the movies have the difficult job of trying to establish a killer that makes sense with the clues that are given while not being so obvious that the audience can figure it out. Knives Out found a way to temper the audience's constant speculation by revealing the truth. The movie then became about Marta trying to outsmart Blanc who doesn't buy the suicide angle. This allowed Johnson to build the bigger mystery without so much speculation from the audience. Now that his trick is revealed, audiences will be far more suspicious of any easy answers and Johnson will have to work against their speculations for the entire movie.
While building the mystery does provide some obstacles for the sequel, Knives Out 2 has plenty going for it to set itself apart from the first movie. The incredible cast will mean there will be plenty of big-name suspects to keep audiences busy. The sequel will also be set in Greece which will no doubt add a fun new flair to the movie. And now that he is established as the center of the franchise, Benoit Blanc will likely be acting more as the protagonist of the story which will be a fun way for Daniel Craig to move on from the James Bond franchise. So while Knives Out set the bar high, Johnson has proven himself to be a lover of murder mysteries and will no doubt find a way to make the sequel just as entertaining.