Knives Out Movie: Daniel Craig Reveals Murder in Toxic Family

Dyana Larzo

Knives Out is a 2019 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson.

The movie stars Daniel Craig who plays Benoit Blanc, a famous private detective called in to investigate the death of bestselling author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).

According to Rotten Tomatoes reviews, the movie earned 67% of the 79 critics surveyed giving the movie positive reviews; the average rating is 6.6/10.

Knives Out Movie Synopsis

The family of Harlan Thrombey, a wealthy mystery novelist, attends his 85th birthday party at his Massachusetts home. The next morning, Harlan's housekeeper Fran finds him dead with his throat slit. Police detectives Lieutenant Elliot and Trooper Wagner believe Harlan died by suicide, but private detective Benoit Blanc is anonymously hired to investigate. Blanc learns that Harlan had a strained relationship with his family members, providing several possible motives for the murder.

Unbeknownst to Blanc, Harlan's nurse, Marta Cabrera, believes she injected Harlan with a lethal dose of morphine after mixing his medication the night after the party. Harlan ordered her to create a false alibi and then slit his own throat. Marta couldn't lie without vomiting, so she gave accurate but incomplete answers when questioned. She agreed to help Blanc's investigation and hide the evidence against him. At the reading of Harlan's will, Marta is bequeathed her entire fortune, leaving the Thrombeys awestruck and angry. Harlan's grandson Ransom helps Marta escape the family, but manipulates her into confessing to him. He offers help in exchange for a portion of her inheritance. Meanwhile, the remaining Thrombey members try to cajole and threaten Marta into relinquishing her inheritance, to no avail.

Marta receives an extortion letter containing a partial photocopy of Harlan's toxicology report. She and Ransom went to the medical examiner's office and found it burned. Marta receives an email proposing a meeting with the blackmailer. Blanc and the police spot them, and after a short car chase, Ransom is arrested. At the meeting, Marta finds Fran drugged. She performs CPR and calls an ambulance. She confesses to Blanc, even though Ransom has implicated her, and he decides to admit to causing Harlan's death, which would invalidate the inheritance under the killer rule.

Back at the mansion, Marta finds a copy of Fran's full toxicology report, which shows Harlan had only trace amounts of morphine in his blood. Blanc reveals his conclusions to Elliot, Wagner, Marta, and Ransom: that Harlan had told Ransom about his will, and that Ransom then switched Harlan's drugs to ensure that Marta would accidentally kill him and thus not be eligible to claim the inheritance. However, Marta actually gave Harlan the correct medication, without him realizing it; he only thought she had poisoned him after reading the label. Since the death was reported as a suicide, Ransom anonymously hired Blanc to expose Marta. Fran saw Ransom tampering with the crime scene and sent him an extortion letter. After Ransom realizes Marta is not responsible for Harlan's death, but Marta still thinks she is, he forwards the blackmail letter to Marta and sets fire to the medical examiner's office to destroy evidence of her innocence. He then overdosed Fran with morphine, with the intention that Marta would be caught with Fran's corpse.