Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

When writer/director Rian Johnson’s witty Knives Out was released over Thanksgiving 2019, it was seen as a massive breath of fresh air. An original whodunnit with an all-star cast and unique narrative hook saw the film nabbing an Oscar nomination for its Screenplay and grossing over $300 million. While the whodunnit genre has never fully died out, Kenneth Branagh’s Christie adaptations are entertaining their own right, but are far more formal than what Johnson is aiming for, it saw a resurgence with Johnson’s skewering of the genre’s archetypes. After Netflix bought the rights to the franchise from Lionsgate and have given a one week theatrical commitment, Johnson’s follow-up arrives with plenty of fanfare. The second outing featuring Detective Benoit Blanc is another creatively invigorating new twist on the whodunnit formula.

Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back for another mystery to solve. After receiving an invite to a private island owned by reclusive billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), Blanc is found to be the lone outsider on the island, next to Miles’ closest friends. The players includes Kathryn Hahn’s Claire Debella, a state governor with bigger political aspirations, Kate Hudson’s Birdie, a dim model-turned Sweatpants entrepreneur along with her loyal assistant, Peg (Jessica Henwick). There’s also Leslie Odom Jr’s Lionel, a gifted scientist working at Alpha, a tech company owned by none other than Miles, himself and Dave Bautista’s Duke Cody, an online streamer who’s a cross between Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan who was “banned on twitch for selling over-priced boner pills”, alongside his influencer girlfriend Whisky (Madelyn Cline).

From the jump, this is a different kind of beast compared to Knives Out, while still retaining that particular sense of humor and style that Johnson so effortlessly brings. Glass Onion is further proof that Johnson is a master of his craft who takes great pleasure at toying with genre conventions. Johnson’s first outing skewered the typical whodunnit formula while still adhering to its structure. This time around, Johnson is completely rewriting the book on the formula solidified by Agatha Christie. From the very opening scene, it’s clear Johnson isn’t interested in repeating himself, throwing Detective Benoit Blanc into a completely different and wild new story.

Visually, Glass Onion is a major departure from the first film’s cozy setting and fall aesthetic, trading the northeastern setting for the bigger, more luxurious Greek island. This outing is bigger and overall grander than Knives Out, but not at the sacrifice of that films humor or heart. Occasionally, some of Johnson’s idiosyncrasies are a bit brasher, but the skillful craft is on display with most every frame. Johnson uses the exotic locale to great use, building equal laughs and suspense through his use of the settings  architecture and environments.

There is little point in comparing Glass Onion to Knives Out, as both work as fulfilling, stand-alone mysteries, but where Onion may have the upper advantage is in Johnson’s larger aspirations with the material. His satire on the bafoonery of the wealthy elite maybe lacks the sharp wit of Knives Out, but Johnson’s targets are larger in scope. Where Johnson’s writing slightly falters is in the opening act’s inclusion of Covid that, while offering some humorous insights, comes off as clunky and unnecessary.

The ensemble cast in Glass Onion is just as  exquisitely assembled as Johnson’s first outing. The smaller ensemble allows for some deeper characterizations and more genuine intrigue as to who is behind the central mystery. Daniel Craig’s sly sleuth with that velvety southern drawl is as immensely compelling an original character as pop cinema has gotten in the past near decade. Johnson and Craig give Blanc new dynamics to explore and by switching up the setting around him, a billionaire’s island with as many ridiculous and overblown items than you can shake a stick at, the character continues to feel fresh and unique.

Not unlike Ana De Armas’ breakthrough role in the first film, the breakout performance of Glass Onion is given to Janelle Monae’s mysterious Andi, former partner and friend to Miles and his inner circle. Johnson‘s script allows Monae to sink her teeth into a wealth of nuances, giving a performance that subtlety juggles vulnerability, strength and mystique, withholding certain information in a given scene so masterfully. The character resembles Johnson’s spin on the femme fatale archetype. Kate Hudson excels as the ditzy Birdie, garnering a number of the film’s most screamingly funny moments. However, with all other members of the cast, there’s a humanity to each character that prevents them from falling into caricature territory. This is perhaps Hudson’s best role since Almost Famous.

Pop entertainment doesn’t get much better than Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig return with another layered and unpredictable mystery that is as thrilling as it is hysterical. Like most sequels, this is bigger and bolder than its predecessor, but retains all of the wit and charm that made the first film such a hit in the first place.