Chris Kavan's Movie Review of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Rating of
3.5/4

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Dare to Be Stupid - In the Best Possible Way!
Chris Kavan - wrote on 01/12/23

Daniel Craig's likeable Southern-fried detective returns and Rian Johnson once again delivers an incredibly fun murder mystery that gives Knives Out a run for its money.

After a fun opening in which we find Benoit Blanc trying to get through the pandemic lockdown with a friendly game of Among Us (featuring some killer cameos including the late Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim), we get to know the main cast as they are delivered a mysterious puzzle box: Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), a scientist forced into making his boss' inane ideas into reality; Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), a politician trying to break the system; Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) a model with big opinions (that mostly get her into trouble) and her harried assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick); Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) a male-first streamer/influencer and his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline) and Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe) who seems none-too-happy about her invitation. After figuring out the puzzle boxes, they find an invitation from Miles Bron (Edward Norton) who invites his closest friends to visit him on his private island for a murder mystery weekend. Not too long after, Blanc himself receives the same and thus the group finds themselves whisked away to and island paradise.

Soon after arriving, however, Blanc is informed by Bron that he wasn't invited - and it becomes apparent that someone may want to turn the game into reality - made more apparent by the fact that each individual, despite all being friends - seems to have issue with Bron, especially Brand, who he recently had a very public spat, leading to her being ousted from their billion-dollar company over a napkin no less. But Bron isn't the one who ends up dead - and one murder only leads to a bigger revelation - and a twice-told story building up to an explosive conclusion.

Glass Onion does wonders with its characters. Norton's Bron is especially wonderful as - and it's impossible not to make the comparison after this whole Twitter fiasco - an Elon Musk-type that seems like a put-together genius but is really just a raging idiot. Even from his first introduction, when he casually tosses aside the guitar Paul McCartney used to write Blackbird - it's apparent that he's a rich poser who wants people to think he's erudite and cool but if one digs just under the surface you find he's really over-compensating for his lack of anything.

Likewise, most of the characters are given plenty of personality - Craig is given a bigger part and the film is better for it, Monáe shines as the foil to Bron and Hudson and Bautista play their parts to the hilt. While Hahn and Odom Jr. are a bit more subdued, they're still an integral part of the picture - and even Henwick and Cline make the most of their supporting parts. Johnson also manages to throw in more cameos from Noah Segan as a random Lebowski-like presence to Jackie Hoffman as one tough mother to Ethan Hawke to Hugh Grant to freakin' Yo-Yo Ma. It's a veritable buffet of name-that-person.

What makes Glass Onion work is that it's a lot of fun - from Blanc spoiling Bron's carefully-planned mystery to the Mona Lisa to the Crystal Pepsi of energy (or the Hindenburg if you will...) - there are just a lot of great moments to enjoy, even when death is a real possibility.

Given that Johnson has a multi-picture deal, Netflix seems to have hit a home run if he can continue to deliver this kind of quality. But, one suggestion, I love watching at home but if they would have a larger theatrical release window, I would totally support that.

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