Goldman_67754

I finally looked at this after AGES of being persuaded to by a family member. I have generally enjoyed Bill Murray in whatever I've seen him in so I was hopeful for it.

Enjoyable it definitely is. I found it really fun, it really plays to Murray's strengths. He does have a brilliant sense of timing and it seemed pretty easy for him to slip into the bad guy role here. He is relentlessly horrible, his experiences make him very disoriented and it is very funny to watch.

I will definitely give this credit for originality. Yes, it's a Christmas Carol, again, but it's pretty loose with the original source material. Don't expect Jacob Marley's equivalent to be carrying a chain or the Ghost Of Christmas Present to be wearing a gown with holly in his hair (albeit Christmas Future looks rather as you'd expect). It's a comedy! And it's played that way.

The star of the show to my mind is the working of the Ghost Of Christmas Present and the unexpected clumsy violence! I was laughing a lot, it was brilliant. Downsides.... well, the ending is kind of the big-hearted bunch of clichés you might expect. I wish there'd been a funnier way to end it.

I'd recommend it. If you want to chill out and switch your brain off over Xmas, this is a good way to go.

I presume most people who come to look at this will have seen the original Knives Out mystery first, so you should know the ingredients. The perceptive detective with a few personal flaws, the rather eccentric cast of characters with their own relationships with each other, the equally eccentric setting and roughly about halfway through, a flashback sequence turns the entire thing entirely on its head. What is a bit different is that, whereas last time there was one obvious "crime" very early on and heavily focused on, this time it's not exactly clear what the mystery is going to be until quite a lot of time has passed. Everything is just "generally mysterious" for a while but it does still manage to be fascinating.

The one thing that's very obviously different, very quickly, is that everything here is much bigger and more in-your-face. Previously it was about an inheritance; this time it's WORLD-CHANGING. Everything is heavily stylised, massively arty, each of the characters is heavily stereotyped for what they're supposed to be, the set is all hugely expensive looking. It's as if everything's been super-charged for the sequel.

Comparisons aside, for the most part, this is a hugely entertaining ride. It hooks you in and keeps you interested as it weaves about all over the place. As with the first one, it manages to be occasionally and (usually) subtly hilarious with some of the antics that happen and some of the dialogue. It's absolutely NOT a laugh a minute, just an occasional element thrown in that does work. Performances and dialogue overall are pretty on it. Also a couple of unexpected and cool cameos! Loved seeing Hugh Grant in that role.

Where I thought it went awry was the ending. Yes, it seems the aim was to supercharge it all, but the ending was just TOO ridiculous, too drawn-out, too silly. I honestly think you could have sliced off the last twenty minutes and stopped it without that tacked on ending. It just sent it south for me and.... didn't really ruin it as such, but meant that I came away with a worse impression of it than it really deserved.

Still recommended, it's very entertaining and good ride overall.

I absolutely loved this - it's one of those films you go into expecting it to be good and it doesn't disappoint.

This has a vintage sort of theme to it, like an old-timey sort of whodunnit and not only because it's set in a quaint, slightly other-worldly house. Here's a murder, here's a cast of suspects, here are the police with one stand out detective played by Daniel Craig. However it does play with your expectations. Having been all whodunnit to begin with, it will - very unexpectedly - suddenly give you the answer less than halfway through, leaving you to wonder if it's actually a Columbo-esque howcatchem. But it's not really that either because there's more to the plot. It will keep you guessing about how it unfolds.

In the end, it's less about a murder than the dynamics of the family surrounding it and the family are a fairly memorable bunch, especially Jamie Lee Curtis. The not-very-well-disguised greed they all exhibit whilst trying to twist things their own way is very entertaining and makes them all a properly loathsome bunch, especially in contrast to the deceased who comes across as more likeable, well aware of what his family is like and somewhat lonely.

It's a subtly amusing film too. Some of it comes from the feuding family but a lot of it's just unexpected events suddenly happening. I know it's intended as a dark comedy, but I'd mostly say it's about unravelling a mystery. It's a bonus that the humour thrown in just happens to also work really well.

Go and enjoy. It's as good as you think it's going to be.