Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

by Julian Spivey

Photo: Netflix

Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae & Edward Norton
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours & 19 minutes 

Writer/Director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” was a massive surprise for me in 2019. I expected a fun whodunnit mystery but wound up with my favorite movie and movie-going experience of the year.

The cast was terrific, the script was wildly funny, it kept you guessing the entire runtime and it introduced us to an incredible modern-day detective in Daniel Craig’s Southern gent Benoit Blanc.
Blanc was ripe for a series and Johnson must have realized this the very moment he saw Craig’s performance. A sequel, featuring Blanc, was announced soon after the success of “Knives Out.”

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” was released to Netflix on Friday, December 23 after a short theatrical run over Thanksgiving weekend in some parts of the country to make it eligible for the Academy Awards. Netflix reported on Tuesday, December 27 that the film was viewed 82.1 million hours during its Christmas opening weekend on the platform.

‘Glass Onion’ opens with a group of well-to-do people receiving a mysterious puzzle box in the mail during the 2020 pandemic leading them to a weekend getaway on the private Greek island of tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who’s probably a satire of Elon Musk. For some mysterious reason, Blanc is also invited to this getaway that turns out to be a murder mystery party.  
Blanc ruins the actual murder mystery party pretty quickly in one of the movie’s funniest scenes, but the real story of what’s going on on this island is that Bron and his longtime friends: senate candidate Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), scientist for Bron’s company Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), politically incorrect model and fashion designer Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) and gaming streamer and men’s rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) have all screwed Andi Brand (Janelle Monae) out of her place in Bron’s company, for which she was the real mastermind.

The first 45 minutes or so of ‘Glass Onion’ are maybe a bit too enamored with the setup of getting to the island and then the lush scenes of this escape weekend. It takes so long to get to the murder – the first murder that is – that we’re a good hour into the movie before it happens.

The movie kicks into high gear from this point, especially a flashback moment involving how Blanc became a part of the mystery unveiling the movie’s biggest secret. It’s pretty fun from here until the end of the film – though the ending is probably not as satisfying as it could have been and certainly not as satisfying as “Knives Out.” The ultimate killer is also not all that surprising. The movie’s real high is that flashback sequence around its midpoint.

Blanc was the reason many were so excited to see ‘Glass Onion,’ as he was one of the standouts (along with Ana de Armas in “Knives Out,” but in the sequel, you could certainly argue that it’s Monae that stands out as the best and even lead performance and may, in fact, steal some of the glory away from Craig’s performance and character.

Sequels almost never hold up to the original, but I think ‘Glass Onion’ does a good job. It’s certainly not as good as “Knives Out,” but it’s still one of the most fun experiences I’ve had watching a movie in 2022. I think there’s a good chance Johnson will be nominated for an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for his script. He was nominated in 2020 for Original Screenplay for “Knives Out” (because the sequel features a previously written character in Blanc it’ll have to compete in the Adapted category, which is dumb, but Academy rules). Monae may even be a dark horse for Best Supporting Actress.