Rian Johnson’s Knives Out was one of the best-reviewed films of 2019. The acclaimed writer/director led a stellar cast featuring Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Katherine Langford, Toni Collete, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, and many others. Knowing this was a murder mystery, audiences went in expecting some shocking moments.
However, even those in the crowd paying attention to every little detail had to be stunned by some of what this movie did. There were twists and turns from start to finish that helped keep us guessing. From smaller revelations to the outcome of the entire plot, we’re ranking the 10 most shocking plot twists in Knives Out. Consider this your warning that there will be spoilers ahead.
Great Nana Is Smarter Than She Seems
A main source of comedy comes from Wanetta “Great Nana” Thrombey (K Callan). Learning that Harlan’s mother is still alive was a shocker of its own. After all, Harlan died following his 85th birthday. That means that this little old lady is at least in the triple digits.
Whenever we see her, she seems to not know what’s happening. She’s slow on the uptake and even doesn’t realize who she’s looking at sometimes. However, she gets questioned by Detective Blanc (Daniel Craig), who knows she has more to offer. it turns out that she holds a key piece of information that helps solve everything.
Meg Turns On Marta
Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) is the heart of the film. Most of the family takes her for granted or don’t care much about her. Other than Harlan, her closest friendship among the Thrombeys is with Meg (Katherine Langford). The young girl seems to have her back.
When it comes time for Marta to run from the family, the only phone call she responds to is from Meg. Marta confirms that whatever happens, she’ll make sure Meg is taken care of. As soon as the call ends, the camera pans over to show that Meg had the whole family listening in on the conversation.
The Letter Did Say Something
One of the movie’s smalle subplots surrounds the relationship between Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson). They seem rock solid until it’s revealed that Richard was cheating on her. Harlan (Christopher Plummer) found out and threatened to tell his daughter if Richard didn’t come clean.
After Harlan’s demise, Richard sneaks into his office to retrieve his letter telling Linda about the affair. Richard chuckles when he sees that the letter is blank, suggesting Harlan was bluffing. However, Linda finds the letter later and uses a lighter to cause words to appear on the paper. It was a payoff to a line Linda says early in the film about her secret form of communication with her dad.
Marta Gets Everything
Following Harlan’s death, the whole family comes together for the reading of his will. Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans) causes a ruckus when he shows up as it is discovered that he was removed from the will. The time comes to read the will and Ransom gets the last laugh.
Harlan’s final revision to the document saw him leave everything, from his money to his business to his home, to his caretaker Marta. Not a single cent was left to anyone with a blood relation to him. This shocker kicks the plot into the next gear and reveals everyone’s true colors.
Fran Is The Blackmailer
After we find out about the true nature of Harlan’s death (more on that later), Marta must play the ultimate game of cat and mouse. She has to help Detective Blanc when the details that he’s searching for would most likely lead him right to her doorstep.
Marta starts getting letters from someone who knows what she did. It turns out that the blackmailer was Fran (Edi Patterson), Harlan’s housekeeper. When Marta finds her, she’s on the verge of death, making the whole reveal even that more surprising.
Marta Did It?
In a whodunit tale like this, you expect everything to come out at the end. While that’s true to an extent in Knives Out, we get thrown an early curveball. Marta, the pure kind-hearted person, is shown to be the person behind Harlan’s death, though it is an accident.
After playing games with Harlan, Marta chats it up with him as she gives him his medicine. She is horrified to realize that she made a mistake, injecting him with too much morphine. The dose will kill him in minutes and she has no way of preventing it.
Marta Didn’t Do It
When we find out what Marta did, audience members are still unsure. Something must be afoot. Indeed it was, we found out that Harlan’s death actually wasn’t specifically caused by Marta. Once the two realized what was going on, Harlan took matters into his own hands.
The mystery writer quickly devised a plan to keep Marta from getting in trouble. He gave her specific instructions on how to leave the house and cover her tracks so nobody would suspect her. When it was all done, he slit his own throat, showing that it was a suicide.
Ransom’s Plot
Stricken by guilt, Marta finally agrees to come clean to the Thrombey family. Just as she goes to speak, Detective Blanc interrupts her. The toxicology report shows that Harlan didn’t have excess morphine in his system. Marta had done nothing wrong.
That leads to them bringing Ransom in. Detective Blanc goes on a spectacular rant, peeling back the layers of every mystery in the story. Ransom swapped the meds so Marta would accidentally commit the overdose but she actually mixed them up anyway and gave him the right amount. From there, we find out every little bit of what Ransom did to set the story in motion.
Marta’s Lie
It turns out that Fran was actually attempting to blackmail Ransom, not Marta. It was Ransom who left her for dead. Marta tried saving her and she ended up in critical condition in the hospital. As Detective Blanc goes everything Ransom did, the young playboy scoffs because it’s all circumstantial.
Marta gets a call from the hospital and reveals that Fran will live to implicate Ransom. He angrily recounts what he did, only for Marta vomit in his face (it was established that Marta vomits when she lies). Fran was actually dead and the lie got Ransom to confess to murder.
Trick Knife
While talking to Marta, Harlan makes a note about Ransom being similar to him, except that he was the kind of person who couldn’t tell a real knife from a trick one. That seems throwaway but becomes important in the end. When Ransom realizes that Marta tricked him into confessing, he decides to go all in.
Ransom grabs a knife from the setup in the room and lunges at Marta. The whole thing plays out in slow motion. Ransom stabs her as they fall to the floor. However, Marta is perfectly fine. Ransom discovers that it was a retractable trick knife, giving us one final twist.
