Drama, Thriller  •  2025  •  82 min  •  Adults (18+)

The Knife (2025)

The Knife poster

The Knife (2025)


Rating & Dimensions

Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Leans Progressive
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: Moderate
Family Values: Leans Traditional

Viewer Rating
7.0

Overview

A Black family's quiet domestic life fractures when a stranger appears in their home, and a detective's investigation begins to feel less like help and more like suspicion. Writer-director Nnamdi Asomugha, who also stars, grounds the thriller in a recognizable American aspiration: two parents building something stable for their daughters. The Leans Progressive label follows from the film's core tension. In current US discourse, a Black family navigating police scrutiny after a home intrusion carries clear racial profiling undertones. That political charge is real, but it sits alongside a warmly depicted nuclear family, which pulls the label back from a harder left rating. The result is a social thriller with one foot in genre craft and the other in pointed cultural commentary.


Starring Cast

Nnamdi Asomugha  •   Aja Naomi King  •   Melissa Leo


Where to watch

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YouTube logoYouTube
Apple TV logoApple TV
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Detailed Bias Analysis

Analyzing...
Leans Progressive

Primary

Political: Leans Left
Confidence: High

The film's central subject—a Black family's encounter with police suspicion after a home invasion—carries a strong inherent left valence in US discourse as a critique of racial profiling and the carceral state. The narrative frames the problem as systemic bias eroding Black safety and champions awareness of how quickly narratives of Black criminality form, yielding a left-leaning rating.

Diversity: Moderate
Confidence: High

The movie centers on a Black family facing a home intruder and police investigation, with a diverse ensemble including Black leads and a white detective. The narrative explores family dynamics, truth, and consequences through suspense and some social commentary without centering critiques of traditional identities.

Secondary

Family Values: Leans Traditional
Confidence: High

The film centers on a stable nuclear Black family—devoted parents and their young children plus infant—whose domestic routines and bonds are portrayed positively as they navigate an external crisis together, with multigenerational advice reinforcing family continuity. This core depiction of traditional family life as the emotional anchor drives a +1 rating.

LGBTQ: N/A
Confidence: Low

The film contains no identifiable LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

Trans: N/A
Confidence: Low

The film contains no identifiable transgender characters or themes. It centers on a Black family's home invasion crisis, police investigation, and moral choices around truth and secrets.

Female Combat: N/R

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

Gender Swap: No
Confidence: High

Original screenplay with no source material, legacy characters, or historical figures; all named roles have genders matching their on-screen portrayals by actors of the same gender.

Race Swap: No
Confidence: Low

Original screenplay with all new characters; no adaptations, legacy roles, or historical figures recast across racial lines.

Hinduism: N/A
Confidence: Low

Not depicted in the film.


Viewer Rating Breakdown

7.0

Viewer Rating

Combines user and critic ratings from four sources

User Ratings

IMDB logo
5.6
The Movie Database logo
7.2

Critic Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes logo
9.1
Metacritic logo
6.2

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