What Is the Rotten Tomatoes Score for Knives Out

Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” achieved a 97% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the most critically acclaimed mystery films of the past decade. The film’s exceptional critical reception paired with its 92% Audience Score demonstrates a rare consensus between professional critics and general audiences.

This near-perfect critical approval reflects the film’s clever storytelling, sharp screenplay, and stellar ensemble cast that resonated across both critical and mainstream circles. The original 2019 film’s 97% rating stands as the highest score in the entire Knives Out franchise, even after two sequels followed its success.

This standing speaks to the film’s original impact and the specific magic Johnson captured in launching what would become a successful series.

Table of Contents

• How Does Knives Out’s Score Compare to Its Sequels?
• Understanding What a 97% Rotten Tomatoes Score Actually Means
• What Made Knives Out Achieve Such Critical Consensus?
• Why Critical Consensus Matters for Mystery Films
• The Audience-Critic Gap and What It Reveals About Knives Out
• How Knives Out’s Score Affected Its Cultural Impact
• The Future of Knives Out in Critical Discourse
• Conclusion

How Does Knives Out’s Score Compare to Its Sequels?

The knives Out franchise shows an interesting critical arc across its three installments.

The original 2019 film leads with its 97% Tomatometer score, followed by “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” released in 2025 with a 95% score, and then “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” from 2022 with a 91% Tomatometer rating.

All three films maintain strong critical standing, but the original’s score remains the benchmark.

What’s particularly notable is that audience scores remained consistent, with both the original and Glass Onion holding at 92% on the Audience Score, suggesting fans respond similarly to each installment even as critic opinions vary slightly.

The slight decline from the first to second film likely reflects the challenge of matching lightning in a bottle twice. Many critics noted that “Glass Onion,” while entertaining, couldn’t fully recapture the freshness and novelty of the original mystery.

However, the 2025 release of “Wake Up Dead Man” with its 95% score suggests Johnson has refined his approach, bringing critical reception closer to the original’s standard while still falling just short.

Understanding What a 97% Rotten Tomatoes Score Actually Means

A 97% Tomatometer score on rotten Tomatoes means that 97% of critics gave the film a positive review, categorized as either fresh or certified fresh. This is an exceptionally high percentage—most films considered “great” typically fall in the 70-85% range, making 97% genuinely rare territory.

However, it’s important to understand that this percentage reflects the number of critics with positive opinions rather than their intensity of praise. A critic who found the film merely good counts the same as one who called it a masterpiece.

The distinction between Tomatometer and Audience Score also matters. The 92% Audience Score reflects what actual viewers rated the film, sometimes revealing gaps in how critics and audiences perceive the same work.

With Knives Out, the unusually high audience score alongside the Tomatometer suggests genuine widespread appeal rather than a film that’s “critic-proof” or divorced from popular taste. This alignment is worth noting because many acclaimed films experience larger gaps between critical and audience reception, indicating divisive or challenging content.

What Made Knives Out Achieve Such Critical Consensus?

Several elements contributed to the film’s remarkable critical reception. The screenplay’s clever structure, which guides viewers through the mystery while expertly misdirecting them, won widespread praise.

Daniel Craig’s distinctive accent and entertaining performance as the eccentric detective Benoit Blanc became instantly iconic, with many critics highlighting how the character elevated what could have been standard procedural scenes into memorable comedic moments.

The ensemble cast, featuring established actors like Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, and Toni Collette, delivered ensemble chemistry that critics noted elevated the material beyond a typical whodunit.

The film also succeeded because it worked on multiple levels. For viewers seeking a straightforward, entertaining mystery, it delivered satisfying plot mechanics and humor. For critics analyzing its craft, the screenplay’s construction, the visual storytelling choices, and the film’s self-aware approach to mystery conventions offered substance worth discussing.

This multi-layered appeal is rare and explains why both professional critics and general audiences rated it highly.

Why Critical Consensus Matters for Mystery Films

Mystery films often prove divisive—audiences either embrace the twist or feel betrayed by it, and critics debate whether the mechanics support the emotional payoff. Knives Out’s near-unanimous positive reception suggests it avoided these common pitfalls.

The 97% score indicates that critics from different backgrounds, experience levels, and critical frameworks generally agreed the film succeeded on its own terms.

This matters because it suggests the film works regardless of viewer preference; mystery enthusiasts, casual filmgoers, and cinema critics all found merit in the work. However, the 5% of critics who gave the film a negative review remind us that even near-universal acclaim has exceptions.

Some critics may have found the film too clever-for-its-own-sake, too reliant on misdirection, or too focused on entertainment value at the expense of deeper meaning. Understanding that even celebrated films have detractors prevents us from mistaking consensus for universal truth—a valuable reminder that critical scores represent aggregated opinions rather than objective quality measures.

The Audience-Critic Gap and What It Reveals About Knives Out

The 5-point difference between Knives Out’s 97% Tomatometer and 92% Audience Score is notably small, which speaks to the film’s broad appeal. Many acclaimed films see much wider gaps—Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has a 92% Tomatometer against an 82% Audience Score, for example.

With Knives Out, the minimal gap suggests that critical appreciation translated directly into audience enjoyment.

Some viewers clearly disagreed with the critical consensus, but the proportion remained small. One limitation of reading too much into this comparison: Rotten Tomatoes audience scores skew toward people enthusiastic enough to rate films online, potentially overstating satisfaction.

Still, the 92% Audience Score for a mystery film that heavily relies on misdirection and requires close attention suggests the film didn’t alienate casual viewers despite its complexity, which is genuinely impressive for the genre.

How Knives Out’s Score Affected Its Cultural Impact

The exceptional Rotten Tomatoes score became part of the film’s cultural narrative. When a mystery film achieves 97% critical approval, it signals to potential viewers that this isn’t a risky watch—critics across the spectrum endorsed it. This critical blessing likely contributed to the film’s strong box office performance and its status as a cultural touchstone.

The score became a mark of quality that studios could point to in marketing, and streamers could highlight when releasing sequels. The high score also created expectations that sequels had to manage.

When “Glass Onion” arrived with a solid but lower 91% score, some viewers and critics interpreted this as a step down, even though 91% is exceptional in absolute terms.

This demonstrates how critical scores, once established at a high level, become reference points that shape perception of subsequent work.

The Future of Knives Out in Critical Discourse

With “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” now released at 95%, the franchise demonstrates sustained critical approval even as the novelty of each entry diminishes. The 95% score positions this newest film between the original’s unmatched 97% and Glass Onion’s 91%, suggesting Johnson found the right calibration for the third installment.

Whether future Knives Out films maintain this critical trajectory remains uncertain, but the pattern suggests the franchise has established a baseline of critical acceptance. The franchise’s consistent high scores across three films—97%, 91%, and 95%—suggests that Johnson’s particular style and approach have proven durable with critics.

As mystery films often rely on surprise and novelty, it’s worth monitoring whether future entries can maintain these numbers as audiences become more familiar with Johnson’s storytelling patterns and the franchise’s conventions.

Conclusion

Knives Out’s 97% Rotten Tomatoes score places it among the most critically acclaimed mystery films ever made, with its 92% Audience Score confirming that critical praise translated into widespread popular appreciation. This achievement reflects the film’s exceptional screenplay, memorable performances, clever structure, and ability to entertain both film critics and general audiences simultaneously.

The score has become inseparable from the film’s cultural identity and commercial success. Understanding what this score means—and how it compares to the sequels and other acclaimed films—provides useful context for what made the original Knives Out such a distinctive achievement.

The film’s critical reception wasn’t inflated by a small group of devoted enthusiasts; rather, it reflected a broad consensus that the film succeeded at multiple levels of cinematic craft and entertainment value.

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