Rian Johnson’s sublime whodunnit, “Knives Out,” was one of the best films of 2019, putting Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc on an airtight murder mystery that both surprised and delighted audiences. So, streaming giant Netflix wanted a piece of the action and offered Johnson an obscene amount of money for two sequels exclusive to their service. While it’s a bummer that most won’t be able to experience Johnson’s thrilling mystery stylings with a sold out crowd, fortunately, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery played in theaters for one week only before hitting Netflix this month.
This turns out to be the best way to see the film, as experiencing the numerous twists and turns of this stylish sequel with others is a unique and electric feeling. Once again, Johnson delights and delivers another airtight thriller with lots more biting satire than before and a cast that makes for much more colorful suspects.
Craig’s Blanc, the only returning character from the first film, is summoned to a private island owned by Miles Bron (Edward Norton, “Birdman”), a man so rich, vain and clueless that he makes Elon Musk look like Scrooge McDuck. Along with others in Miles’s inner circle, including a former scorned business partner Andi Brand (Janelle Monae, “Hidden Figures”), vapid model Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson, “Almost Famous”), beefy biker Duke Cody (Dave Bautista, “Guardians of the Galaxy”) and his uniquely named trophy girl Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), Blanc is tasked with solving a mystery that Miles has cooked up, which very quickly turns dangerous and once again leaves Blanc hunting for clues and motive among the suspects.
The biggest surprise with the film isn’t the ultimate revelation of who did it, although that is certainly a plus, but rather how timely it is. Set during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and featuring a cast of one percenters, the film wastes no time bashing the uber rich and even makes jokes at the expense of the recent lockdown- an early riotous joke claims that Miles has been sitting on the cure for COVID all this time.
This goes all the way to the “Glass Onion” of the title, which ends up being the name of Miles’s lavish abode, a locale that invites lots of opportunities for Johnson to film a cinematic mystery that dazzles the eyes as well as the brain. But it’s in the star power of the cast of suspects that makes the film a true onion with lots of fun layers to peel back.
Craig is once again a delight and has more of a central struggle this time, which is a nice surprise. Monae’s juicy character invites comparison to Ana de Armas’s heroine in the first film and Norton gets his best performance and character he’s had since “Birdman” as a guy who you’ll hate to recognize.
Across the board, every player has tons of secrets and red herrings galore, making the mystery all the more compelling by constantly zigging instead of zagging, which makes sense since Johnson knows that the savvy viewers are trying to figure out the mystery. Interestingly, Johnson’s rockstar script has a fascinating play on the typical whodunnit structure that will leave most viewers shell shocked with the new direction the film twists into. It’s a far riskier and more thought provoking tale than its predecessor and it’s never not fun to watch.
However you experience it, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a fantastic follow up and the most enjoyable whodunnit since, well, “Knives Out.” While it doesn’t quite eclipse that near masterpiece, it’s nonetheless a riotous great time at the movies with enough layers and twists to make Agatha Christie proud.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery streams on Netflix on December 23.