All The Old Knives, the new spy thriller released on Amazon Prime, is a tense engaging spy thriller whodunnit that works the audience like a police interrogator, studying and casting doubt on all possible suspects until the very end. I deem it "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy lite."
At its one-hour forty-minute runtime, Janus Metz directs efficiently, crisscrossing between multiple timelines at ease with no confusion. Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton both deliver solid performances, playing up the ambiguity and maintaining a palpable tension in long dialogue-driven setpieces.
Knives is a heavily dialogue-driven film that requires the audience's full active attention. There are many "Is he/she lying?" and "What did he/she mean by that?" moments for the audience to interpret. It is fun in the same vein as a detective mystery board game.
I love this type of spy film as it reflects what real spy work would be like; a ton of interviewing people and fact-checking. For those looking for this type of spy film, I recommend Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It takes an arthouse approach but also makes it about something beyond its spy plot.
While it doesn't break new ground for the spy genre, All The Old Knives just delivers the spy plot but it is a satisfying one-time watch.
At its one-hour forty-minute runtime, Janus Metz directs efficiently, crisscrossing between multiple timelines at ease with no confusion. Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton both deliver solid performances, playing up the ambiguity and maintaining a palpable tension in long dialogue-driven setpieces.
Knives is a heavily dialogue-driven film that requires the audience's full active attention. There are many "Is he/she lying?" and "What did he/she mean by that?" moments for the audience to interpret. It is fun in the same vein as a detective mystery board game.
I love this type of spy film as it reflects what real spy work would be like; a ton of interviewing people and fact-checking. For those looking for this type of spy film, I recommend Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It takes an arthouse approach but also makes it about something beyond its spy plot.
While it doesn't break new ground for the spy genre, All The Old Knives just delivers the spy plot but it is a satisfying one-time watch.