Review - Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. The other day, I took a look at Rian Johnson's murder mystery Knives Out, which was a financial and critical success for Lionsgate Films. However, even though Lionsgate greenlit a sequel, Netflix wound up buying the rights for a two-film deal for sequels to Knives Out . Today, we'll be taking a look at the first of these sequels: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, written and directed by Rian Johnson, and starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, along with a cast of newcomers that includes Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, Leslie Odom Jr., Madelyn Cline, and Janelle Monáe. 

        So, this movie involves a tech billionaire named Miles Bron, who has sent puzzle boxes to his circle of friends, including politician Claire Debella, fashion designer Birdie Jay, scientist Lionel Toussaint, and Twitch streamer/men's rights activist Duke Cody. Within the puzzle boxes are invitations to Miles' private island. Oh, and all of this happened in May of 2020, smack in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeez. Anyway, along with Claire, Duke, Lionel, and Birdie, others who end up going to Miles' Island for the weekend are Duke's girlfriend Whiskey, Birdie's assistant Peg, detective Benoit Blanc, and Miles' former business partner Andi Brand. 

        On the island, Miles greets all of his guests, and showcases his home: the Glass Onion. After sending each of them to their preassigned rooms, Miles pulls Blanc aside, revealing he never sent Blanc an invitation to the island, but allows him to stay, as it would add credibility to the weekend plan of a murder mystery: the "death" of Miles. After a pretty relaxing day, it's time to start the murder mystery game. Only, Blanc spoils the setup before it even starts. Whoops. And, then we end up having to solve an actual murder mystery, as Duke chokes and drops dead. How? We'll get to that. Because, we have yet ANOTHER murder mystery on top of this one: the murder of Andi Brand. 

       Yeah, it turns out that the real Andi was killed in a way that appeared like a suicide, and the woman posing as her was her twin sister Helen, who was the one who hired Blanc to help prove that Miles had something to do with Andi's death. And, it follows that's Helen poses as Andi, goes to the island with the others, and works with Blanc to gather intel on who could have a motive for killing Andi. And, it turns out that Andi, Miles, Claire, Lionel, and Duke were all prepping what would become Miles' tech company Alpha, and also preparing to release a new clean energy product called Klear, which Andi found to be too volatile, and both Claire and Lionel have staked their careers on it. And, Klear, it turns out, is completely hydrogen based, and thus too dangerous. Andi attempted to stop its development, and so Miles and the others used the courts to oust her as CEO of Alpha. 

       Anyway, after assembling enough information to prove that everyone has a motive to kill Miles, none of them had motive to kill Duke. And, someone takes a shot a Helen, and this instigates the final confrontation. Miles killed Andi weeks before, Duke was nearly killed by him as Duke was heading to Andi's, and he saw a notification on his phone revealing Andi's death, and attempted to blackmail Miles. So, Miles switched their drinks, and Duke chokes from anaphylaxis, as the drink had pineapple juice in it, and Duke was extremely allergic to pineapple. Shit goes sideways pretty quick, and the Klear substance blows up, destroying the Glass Onion. The police boats approach the island, and all of Miles' friends all plan to testify against him. The end. 

       Much like the first Knives Out, Glass Onion is pretty asinine. But, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. Heck I think that I liked this one more than the original. The setup is, as I said, completely asinine, but that's the entire point. It's SUPPOSED to be asinine. That's the joke. Now, if this was supposed to be a dramatic piece like what Kenneth Branagh made with his adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and such, then yeah, many of the criticisms by the film's detractors would be valid. But, because the Knives Out franchise is more comedic, their asinine nature is part of the joke, and the movies can thus retain their sense of verisimilitude. 

      The performances were fantastic, with Daniel Craig, once again, leading the charge with another tour de force performance as Benoit Blanc. Edward Norton as Miles, Kathryn Hahn as Claire, Kate Hudson as Birdie, Jessica Henwick as Peg, Dave Bautista as Duke, Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, Leslie Odom Jr. as Lionel, and Janelle Monáe as Andi/Helen were all fantastic. But, many of the characters come off as extremely dumb, especially Edward Norton's Miles. But, again, that's the entire point, he's dumb on purpose. That's a part of the joke. 

       I think that the problem that some people who've ragged on Glass Onion have is that they're not looking at the movie in the terms of being comedic. They're not in on the joke. And, thus, they're missing out on what makes it so fun. Glass Onion is a lot of fun, it's funny as hell, and I'm giving it a rating of 4.85/5. And, of course, Rian Johnson is getting started on the next chapter of the series, Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. And, yes, I will be getting into it when the movie hits Netflix next year. 

       Anyway, guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you in the next review.