Invitation to a Murder (2023)
Everyone is a suspect.
Super happy murder mystery time! Okay, well, maybe happy doesn’t go in there when it’s a murder mystery exactly, but I mean it can still be fun and make you happy watching it right? For a movie I’m almost positive I haven’t watched before, this one sure gives out some déja vu - but could it still work for you? Get your train ticket and unlock those mansion doors, it’s time to get your sleuth hat out for you just recieved an Invitation to a Murder.
A murder might have happened ina spooky mansion. We cut over to a lady - a florist to be precise - getting herself some new books, as she has a killer desire for more murder literature. A detective at heart, it turns out her desires might end up getting a chance to be more than dreams as she receives a mysterious letter delivered to her apartment - one invitation to an esteemed and reclusive estate. Along the way she meets up with all the invitees on a train, where we receive a crash course as they make their way to the island estate, and when they arrive things start getting a bit weird. It only gets more weird when on the second day what should occur but a murder!
Actors do a good job here, and play their roles pretty dang well. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that it was absolutely blowing everything out of the park and should have been showered with awards - because that would be over-embellishing- but suffice it to say the bulk of actors do a wonderful job of injecting some level of energy and charm into their characters. Yes, even with me getting distracted for a bit while trying to figure out why the one actor looked so familiar to me (surprise, I recalled him from the tv show Castle), I still got to see plenty of little details in the deliveries that made the characters feel more suspicious and alive. That being told, I would say that none of the actors go too horribly off type with the character that they are playing, so despite being well done it also doesn’t really do it much to make the cast stand out much from other popular murder mysteries you may be checking out.
Characters are where things do start feeling a bit more routine - not really the movies fault exactly, as it’s mostly just the “when dealing with genre in bulk, you start noticing the similarities” more often. This might lead to people figuring out most the twists and turns early on, but at least most the characters don’t constantly act in obviously over-done red herring manners, and stay true to their type throughout the movie. It doesn’t really feel like any given character suddenly makes a massive heel turn where suddenly they are completely different in act two than in act one. I’d say they are done fine enough, although I will also say that only one really feels to have any real “historical” depth to them, whereas the rest largely feel like they are the same person going in as they are going out, circumstances aside.
Train ride… to murder!
Costumes are fancy and a bit period, as honestly one would probably expect from most murder mysteries. Okay, maybe it’s just me that expects that, but whatever I already said it! There isn’t an absolute ton of crazy effects here - it’s very much that realistic slice of film, which isn’t to say there isn’t stuff all about the sets as decoration or the occasional blood or dead body to see - but it’s all very routine daily in it’s presentation so much like the normal attire of a modern movie technically being well done by not standing out, a similar thing happens here. That said, some of the dresses are nicer looking, and tuxes and the likes look suitably fancy and appropriate for any given characters. The only real weapon that shows up is a sweet looking katar, and the movie does a good deal with making sure there are plenty of details for folks who pay extra attention to the movie. Yes, some of those details are obvious and extremely pointed out, but it’s nice either way.
The setting is a mansion, so there is room to play around there and keep it from looking too stale. The movie also moves along pretty briskly in feel, even though technically we have a lot of scenes that aren’t effectively much more than people talking or people walking about. It’s all shot well, so between the framing and lighting you’ll see all the details you might want to. Of course, if you are me you might not notice them until it points them out because you aren’t paying that much focused attention, but you can still enjoy the ride even if you aren’t actively looking to figure out who did what at the very start of the movie - although like any good movie watcher, my first line as the movie starts was “did the butler do it?” It’s like yelling “freebird” at a rock band, it’s just something everyone around you has to suffer through, youi know? Some of the setting - particularly in a few exterior shots - I wouldn’t be surprised were aided in movie magic ways - something about the island it shows them going to or away from on the boat scenes really just doesn’t feel like a legitimate “there at the time of shooting” thing to me. None of it is really egregiously bad though - it all looks good, and I would say it’s better than TV movie quality pretty much across the board.
Audio is balanced very well, and you won’t have trouble with hearing lines at all. Subtitles also did a fine job of matching up what was said, so pretty standard fare in that regard. The twists and turns don’t really come out of nowhere - especially after you know them at the end and can look back at it differently - but I also wouldn’t say it dramatically changes it so much that you would look at the movie any different and necessitate a second watch. It does bring up some stuff for the thoughtful types, but some of that plays with the reveals so I’ll leave it for the folks that want it to watch it and find out. With all that being said, I wouldn’t oversell how much is there - I don’t go looking for it, so there’s almost always more than what I catch in a movie, but this one honestly feels pretty straight forward mystery flick with maybe one or two little commentary things as opposed to something that turns into a twenty page essay on the state and affair of humanity.
A dinner… to die for!
I enjoyed the movie. Admittedly, I wasn’t really actively attaching who was going to be the murderer as I watched this time around, but I do feel I probably would have been pretty close if I had. It suffers a little bit if you have seen a ton of murder mysteries as it feels so similar in so many elements - group of people, summoned to a mansion, the twist and the turns. It doesn’t stop it from being put together well and being a good time however. It might not be quite as funny as something like the Knives Out movies, or feature anywhere near as nice facial hair as the Murder on batch of movies, but it’s doesn’t really feel any worse than those. Alright, perhaps a little bit less budget than some of those- but you don’t need a huge budget to make a fun mystery, and this one does good at combining all it’s elements to make for a good time that doesn’t overrun your entire night with red lines and confused texts to friends.