Potential spoilers from this moment on, so don’t ruin the mystery, go watch the movie then come back!
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) follows the 2019 film Knives Out, both of which are written and directed by Rian Johnson. While the first became memorable with its aesthetic and twists, the follow up film changes the scenery while keeping the twists coming. It is not a direct sequel to the first movie, with the only returning character being Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc who is out to solve the crime. The trailer for the movie itself is great at not letting the audience see who the actual murder victim is, and for the better half of the movie viewers may assume it will be Edward Norton’s Miles that bites the bullet. He is the glue that bonds the group together through his large favors and money (much like the first movie’s victim), and the movie quickly shows all the reasons why the audience and the other characters would want to get rid of this guy. Similar to its predecessor, this film has an eclectic cast of big names, but rather than being bonded through blood these characters are joined by an underlying dirty secret they all share. The movie is set during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic where the gang get together on Miles’ private island to solve a fake murder mystery that slowly becomes real. While some may be annoyed with seeing the pandemic in television and cinema, this feels like a true product of its time.
Glass Onion’s strength is without a doubt its characters. They don’t feel as fleshed out as in the first film, but this lends itself to the movie. These people aren’t family, and at this point in their lives they are friends and it shows how this tension builds up to the eventual murder. Craig delivers what I feel is a better performance than his Bond. Norton is insufferable in the best way possible, and his shady character Miles is obviously never supposed to be given the benefit of the doubt by the audience. I couldn’t wait to see who murdered him. Dave Bautista’s Duke begins the movie flat, and it isn’t until we see his character in flashbacks that we see how dynamic his character really is. The two standouts for me were Kate Hudson as Birdie Jay, a problematic celebrity, and Janelle Monae who pulls double duty playing twins. After viewing this movie I demand Hudson is cast in a hundred more comedies, and Monae needs to be in a thousand more movies in general. It is hard to be a scene stealer whenever Benoit Blanc comes on screen yet Monae as Andi/Helen manages to do it. My only complaint would be that Kathryn Hahn was severely underused.
Another high was of course the writing. I haven’t seen a movie where the writer/director pays such intricate attention to detail in every aspect in such a long time that this movie came out as the top movie of 2022 for me, and one of the best I have seen in a while. From Miles hanging a famous painting upside down to show he can’t buy intelligence to the subtleness of the drinkware given to each character. I watched this movie for the first time with my family, and my dad instantly spotted who poisoned Duke (Norton doesn’t die in this!), but I was the only one to catch what the character briefly mentioned he was allergic to at the beginning of the movie. Something I noticed on the second watch was the detail of the wrist band that Norton’s Miles gives each of his guests which he describes as being the color of the Chakra he associates with them. Monae’s Andi receives the root chakra. When the reveal comes that she is the character that essentially created Miles’ wealth, this subtle hint reveals how he truly feels about her.
The movie ends in flames (literally) and all the jokes and one liners throughout the movie have incredible pay off. It follows the same technique as the first film where it flashes back to only a few days prior and leads right back up to the moment the audiences last saw the characters during the murder mystery. Watching this movie was an experience itself that left me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie, then watch it again and again.
Eva Davey is a UFV student majoring in English Literature and minoring in Media Communications. She is a fan of poetry, oat milk lattes, and the final girl trope. Currently, her worst enemy is the Good Reads app.
