Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022 | USA | 139 minutes | Rian Johnson)
If you think to yourself “didn’t The Sunbreak already review Glass Onion?” you wouldn’t be wrong. My prolific fellow writer/editor Josh put pen to paper in September about this very film as a part of his Toronto Film Festival coverage. I, however, was lucky enough to catch it just before its official opening this week and I’ll try to give a bit more juicy info on this highly anticipated follow up to Rian Johnson’s first witty whodunnit Knives Out.
A complete departure from the first film in storyline, yet the familiar feel of silliness, tension, and quizzical murder mystery, Glass Onion has no trouble keeping you captivated from beginning to end. A cast of characters, witty, untamed and ridiculous, open the film amidst the pandemic lockdown, all on a group call attempting to open identical mysterious puzzle boxes each received from a mutual friend: the brash and unapologetic billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton). After a snappy discourse and several failed attempts, the boxes finally open to reveal invitations to Bron’s luxe private island for a murder mystery party.
Cut to Daniel Craig’s enigmatic Benoit Blanc: at the edge of sanity and spending way too much time in the tub, he’s sequestered at home and deep in pandemic melancholy while his brilliant mind wastes away from lack of excitement and crimes to unravel. A knock at the door brings him his own puzzle box. Off he runs without a clue in the world as to why he has been invited to Bron’s party at the isolated tropical house of opulence coined Glass Onion (dubbed so from the bulbous glass dome that tops it)… or so we think.
While Craig has an undeniable charm and damnit if he doesn’t pull off that southern accent, it’s the fact that he isn’t (and never has been) the main character in either of the Knives Out films that really appeals to me. While Benoit Blanc is undeniably necessary for the films to be as successful as they are, he is in no way the main attraction. It’s the mild distraction of his character’s sleuthing and the catty, deceiving, sly interactions of the others that move the storyline forward keeping our eyes glued to the screen and distracted from the truth.
Each actor plays their part adding to the illusion and reality of the story behind the story; without stellar performances from each and every one, it just wouldn’t work. We all know that these “best friends” of Bron’s secretly hate him on a deeper level, because who could like such a jackass with literally no depth other than loving himself and loving everyone else loving him? The obvious parity to Elon Musk gets more and more amusing by the minute as the real-life billionaire’s popularity (and fortune) comes crashing down around his ears. That alone makes this film worth a watch right now, in this moment… but that’s just a small drop in the bucket.
While I didn’t think the twist was obvious, I’m sure there will be folks who say it is, but that’s not even the point. It was getting to that reveal that was the fun part; I wasn’t just waiting for the climax, the journey was well worth the time. Hear me when I say, go to the theater to catch this one before it hits Netflix. You will want to be in a crowd gasping, laughing and cheering with people all around you. In some ways, we’ve lost the desire to experience a movie surrounded by other people, it’s safer and cozier on our couches or in our beds. You can do that later, after you’ve seen it out in a crowd, but don’t waste such a fun experience at home.
I can’t believe I’m vying for a trilogy (or more) of films because they rarely live up to their original, but bring it on Rian Johnson, I’m hooked.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery arrives in theaters on 11/23