THE KNIFE (2025) - Mark Reviews Movies

The Knife, Relativity Media

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 14, 2025

The truth is the only thing that matters, according to the police detective in charge of the investigation of a home burglary, which has resulted in the intruder being on the edge of death. Her statement brings to mind the timeless question that is at the core of co-writer/director/star Nnamdi Asomugha's The Knife: What is truth?

For Chris (Asomugha), it's that he had defend his family in that moment, when he discovers a woman has broken into their new house in a neighborhood that has a reputation for being rough. For Det. Carlsen (Melissa Leo), it's getting each and every detail of everyone's story inside that house, looking for shared testimony and accidental or intentional contradictions that will paint as clear a picture of what happened as possible.

For Chris' wife Alex (Aja Naomi King), the truth is more complicated and frightening. Her husband is a Black man, and it doesn't matter whether or not he acted in self-defense or did nothing to cause the severe injury of the woman who invaded his property. She assumes the police will look at him with suspicion and treat him as if he did something wrong. Based on how the cops do act here, Alex isn't wrong, either.

The screenplay, co-written by Mark Duplass, is a thorny one, raising more questions, perhaps, than this simple story can answer in a satisfying way or explore in the probing way that the materials seems to demand. The simplicity of the setup, though, turns out to be a strength here, because the film becomes a dialogue-heavy, behavior-based thriller about morality, ethics, and how the truth can look so different depending on the perspective from which one views it.

The biggest plot-related question is a difficult one, left open through most or maybe even all of the film. What happened when Chris encountered that woman (played by Lucinda Jenney) in his kitchen in the middle of the night?

What we know for certain is that the husband and father of three, including a newborn baby, had been working on a bedroom for his eldest daughter Ryley (Aiden Price), who now has to share a room with her younger sister Kendra (Amari Price). Before going to bed, Chris checks on the siblings, who are awake and notice that their father's breath smells of beer. That, apparently, isn't a good thing for him, but when Chris finally gets into his own bed, Alex doesn't notice. The only thing that matters to them is that he has to work in the morning and she has a job interview, and the couple's playful back-and-forth establishes a fine marriage so quickly that nothing else is required to put this family into perspective.

After a little sleep, Chris hears a noise inside the house. Carrying a knife with him for protection, he soon finds that woman, who is white and doesn't respond to his polite requests that she leave, and Asomugha cuts just before whatever happens in the kitchen actually happens. When Alex is awakened by a loud crash, she gets to the kitchen and finds the home-invader unconscious or maybe even dead on the floor. Chris calls 9-1-1, and just before the police get the door, Alex moves the knife, which had fallen to floor, and puts it beneath the woman's hand—just to ensure that Chris' self-defense claim will look irrefutable.

The rest of the story plays out with the feeling of real-time and with an increasing sense of confusion and helplessness. In theory, there's little reason to doubt Chris' account, which is that the woman suddenly fell and basically knocked herself unconscious—except that he claims his memory of what happened is unclear. Is he being honest about that, since we soon learn he's taking prescription pain medication to help with a back injury, or is he lying to cover up that something else happened in the kitchen to result in the woman's condition?

Whatever the case may be, there's also little reason to doubt that the police handle this investigation and interrogation, not to mention the family, poorly. Is that because they have legitimate suspicions about Chris' story, or is a moment when Chris runs back inside the house to help his daughter indicative of deeper, less-professional kind of prejudice against him? If anything, the film serves as a good reminder that finding an attorney is necessary in almost any situation involving the police. Even the supposedly by-the-books Carlsen, for example, lies in official documentation of the case, when she, assuming Kendra will tell the truth, claims Alex is in the room with the girl when the detective starts asking Kendra questions.

The entire situation, in other words, is a mess. In part, that's because Chris and Alex don't help themselves much, although the decisions are based on fears that might turn out to be right. We'll never know, for sure, because the business with the knife defines everything that happens. It's also because the police seem set from the get-go, with a younger and calmer and more responsible officer (played by Manny Jacinto) setting the investigation in motion based on a hunch, to blame Chris for something.

In his directorial debut, Asomugha orchestrates the procedural and emotional elements of the film with pressure cooker-like tension. It's uncomfortable to watch, because the truth behind the story of The Knife is so elusive (Even when an answer is agreed upon, we have to wonder if a damning claim is authentic). That means the film is, in an ironic way, honest to its core.

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