Glass Onions: A Knives Out Mystery

Murder mysteries are a surprisingly fun genre to digest and have proven to be popular on a global front as they remain one of the best-selling book genres books, but this hasn’t been replicated within the film space as strongly. There have certainly been whodunit films released throughout the ages, and Agatha Christie has had some of her work adapted multiple times like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, but the recent films starring Kenneth Branagh have failed to impress audiences, and the baton has instead been passed to Rian Johnson who shook the world with his 2019 original murder mystery story, Knives Out. It had a vibrant personality, colorful performances from a star-studded cast, and was very well written to the point that the end results weren’t clear and the road to unravelling the mystery was just as (if not more) fun as revealing it, so a new franchise had seemingly been birthed to carry on the genre’s legacy, and the 2022 standalone follow-up, Glass Onion, showed the potential this series has and continued investment should be considered.

Set during the COVID-19 epidemic where everyone is forced to stay inside and isolated, famous detective Benoit Blanc (played again by Daniel Craig) feels stifled by the lack of action in his life and craves a real mystery to solve, and one arrives at his doorstep in the form of an elaborate puzzle box which contains an invitation to the private island of tech billionaire, Miles Bron (played by Edward Norton). Curious to why he’s been included in what appears to be a gathering of old friends, Benoit is introduced to the other partygoers; the governor of Connecticut, Claire Debella (played by Kathryn Hahn), scientist Lionel Touissant (played by Leslie Odom Jr.), former supermodel turned fashion designer Birdie Jay (played by Kate Hudson), her assistant, Peg (played by Jessica Henwick), men’s right activist and twitch streamer, Duke Cody (played by Dave Bautista), his girlfriend, Whiskey (played by Madeline Cline) and Mile’s ex-business partner, Andi (played by Janelle Monáe), who seems to be the odd one out as she was previously cut out of the group and the company she helped build with Miles, Alpha. While this motley of old friends with plenty of backage prepare for a murder mystery weekend, the stakes get high when someone actually ends up dead, kicking this repressed detective back into high gear as he tries to unfold another murder led by personal intent.

Glass Onion wasn’t as supercharged at the box office or with critics as the first film but given the time of its release (fittingly during COVID-19) and that Netflix only allowed for a limited theatrical release, its strong numbers on the platformed proved they had something with this series and creative team. This sequel is far more chaotically goofy and has a very obvious message that isn’t presented in the most creative fashion, but the impressive production value, cleanly constructed script and direction, and very entertaining performances still make it worth seeing.

While the first film was owned by Lionsgate and provided them a very stellar box office number for an original feature (earning $311 million on a budget of 40 million), Netflix secured the rights to the next feature in 2021, which would still feature Rian Johnson writing and directing and Daniel Craig as the lead detective. Considering these films are surprisingly cheap to make (with this sequel also only costing $40 million), and the bare essentials of a murder mystery like finding clues, mapping out motives and suspects and climaxing in a massive reveal, are still insanely captivating all these years later, the specific personality that was forged with the first film would be great to see continue, and it feels like Glass Onion tried to take it to the next level. While the first movie was a more personal situation surrounding a snobbish family, this one decides to tackle the 1% and the corporate spheres that bleed into or are even benefitted from the 1%, which was a common trope at the time of its release with many other films also taking their jabs like The Menu and Triangle of Sadness. Given its not-so-subtle name, Glass Onion isn’t hush-hush about its themes and ideas, with a presentation that goes for more upped-scaled bombastic flair rather than the more quietly kooky nature of the first, and while this nicely separates the two without making them feel like entirely separate entities, Glass Onion ironically does come across a little hollower than its predecessor.

In terms of the good, Rian Johnson has a nice firm understanding of how to operate this universe and even how to construct a mystery in a way that may not be overly clear on its journey but is frantic and ever-changing enough to keep people’s attention all the way through, and the eventual reveals of the clues are very satisfying when they are revealed. The cast is mostly pretty fun to watch, the visuals are full of splendor and really feel like a rich estate led by someone who has too much time of his hands, and the dialogue does have a lyrical flow to it that can make you hold onto every word during a monologue, even if the content within said tangent can be a little obvious and contrived. Where the film falls apart isn’t in any of its storytelling, but rather in the subject of focus, as even though it’s incredibly fun and fulfilling to watch the 1% suffer, it’s not really saying anything new about these topics and therefore, retreads some very tired tropes, scenarios and archetypes that arguably hinder the flavorful direction and supposedly spontaneous turn-of-events (it does address when something is simplistically dumb rather than complex, but that doesn’t make it any more interesting). It feels like the commentary is overshadowing the unique appeal and magic this series offers, and while it doesn’t totally destroy the good, it’s enough to weigh it down.

The ensemble cast of a murder mystery are allowed to be a quirky bunch who aren’t always the most complicated but have enough personality traits to make for juicy potential suspects later on as well as be marginally enjoyable to be around for an extended period of time. With the first Knives Out already setting up this series to feature a large assortment of good talent with people like Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Christopher Plummer, Toni Colette, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Shannon, Glass Onion keeps up with this trend by providing an ensemble that is a nice mixture of familiar faces and talent that needs more of the spotlight, and this results in a fun cast of characters. Despite being an actor who can be a little wooden, Daniel Craig is actually really good as the lead detective for this series and has developed enough of a unique identity through his distinct accent and mannerisms, that he’d make for a great reoccurring figurehead to lead this franchise. Despite how over-the-top he should come across, there is a connectable passion behind his desire and ability to solve mysteries, and if nothing else were to come from this series, Benoit Blanc is a very iconic detective that will last beyond this franchise.

The rest of the cast are played by very solid actors and are very memorable thanks to their openly arrogant demeanor and very cartoonish deliveries, but that sparkle doesn’t reveal a ton of depth underneath, and it could’ve been nice to see more of them as characters. This isn’t the case with all of them as Janelle Monáe as the lead has a lot of fun stuff to work with, and while she technically doesn’t do a lot until the second act when things start to unfold, her posture and manner of carrying herself earlier in the film is captivating in itself (she knows how to shoot a good stare). Her performance is also pretty good, and she works off the other characters nicely, so it’s nice that Johnson was able to retain his likeable yet complicated leading ladies. Madeline Cline defies expectations as a bombshell girlfriend to a clearly insecure ‘’alpha male’’ who proves to be more intelligent than she lets on, and Kate Hudson is having a ball playing this very anti-PC fashion model who makes some very shady and controversial choices on the guise of ‘’speaking the truth’’, but the rest are a little weaker. Dave Bautista and Jessica Henwick are good, but don’t have much to work with, Edward Norton is pretty good as Miles, but is so one-note in his delivery that it’s way too repetitive of other stuck-up tech-bros to feel interesting, and Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom Jr.  don’t feel well utilized in their parts despite doing a perfectly fine job acting wise.

For a pretty small-budgeted flick by modern movie standards, Glass Onion looks very clean and polished, with this more than likely coming from Netflix’s involvement (who always make their films look expensive even when they don’t need to be). Given the lavish lifestyle of the people involved plus the true sense of openness that can be felt with the movie being shot during lockdown, it does a nice job making everything location (that’s actually real and not a digital effect), look really eye-catching and memorable. Shooting in an actual Greek island is already pristine enough, but this extravagant getaway mansion (which is an actual real Amanzoe villa in Porto Heli) is a great place to spend the film in, as it’s shown off very well by the cinematography by Steve Yedlin, has enough greenery alongside the glassy exteriors and stone pavements to pop with color when paired with the more chrome and white looking interior, and when balanced against the clear blue skies and waters, it truly feels like a magic little pocket away from the rest of the world (that is fittingly only reserved for the elites). The musical score by Nathan Johnson has that old-timey thriller-esque sound to it that brings a more retro touch to this very modern-feeling series, and even if the previous film’s autumn aesthetic and woodland vibe was more appealing than this hollower and more upper-class apparel, it still looks and sounds presentable.

Glass Onion isn’t as hollow as its namesake claims it to be and proves that this can easily become a franchise that can repeat similar ideas and scenarios while still being fresh with their topics and casting choices, but when comparing the two, it is easier to see people going back to the first film more than this one. It does feel less controlled and focused on a subject matter and selection of characters that aren’t even enjoyable to hate on for long stretches of time (despite how much they deserve it), so the first one is still the best bet, but this little mystery is still worth checking out if you want to indulge in more fun performances, colorful environments and impressive direction and scripting.