‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2022) Review: A Multi-Layered Murder Mystery
Benoit Blanc’s cinematic universe is getting bigger! Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (will be referred to as Glass Onion from this point onwards) is a sequel to 2019’s Knives Out, which features Daniel Craig as Benoit Black, the greatest detective in the world, solving a murder mystery among privileged people. The first movie is pretty good, but it’s always the sequels that have a hard time proving that they can live up to the original. However, Johnson proves to the audience that he can still make an enjoyable murder mystery movie and keep the audience guessing until the end.
Johnson brings a new group of characters and sets them on a private Greek island owned by the tech billionaire, Miles Bron (Edward Norton). He invites his group of friends called the “disruptors,” who consist of a liberal politician, Claire (Kathryn Hahn); a genius scientist who works for Bron, Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.); a men’s rights activist and Twitch streamer, Duke (Dave Bautista); a fashion designer Birdie (Kate Hudson) and her assistant, Peg (Jessica Henwick); and Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe). Everyone is surprised at Andi’s arrival, who built tech company Alpha with Miles, whom he kicked out of the company. At the same time, everyone is surprised by Benoit’s arrival, who wasn’t invited by Miles but decides to let him stay. At the centre of the party is Miles’ murder mystery and he asks his friends to solve it. But the murder mystery reveals itself to be more complicated, and Johnson peels down the layers of the story to find out the truth behind the incredibly well-crafted movie.
There isn’t any need to compare Glass Onion to Knives Out because they are completely different stories. Just like the first movie, which focuses on right-wing trolls, immigration, and class warfare, the sequel explores the absurdity of wealthy people. The social commentary behind Glass Onion is the hold money has on people. From how wealth and money can benefit their lives and career to even betraying friends. But none of these can actually make people smart or special. Johnson takes these points, most possibly from Twitter, and turns them into funny jokes and pokes fun at racist, right-wing trolls on social media. It’s brilliantly funny, and the jokes have a much clearer impact on the story.
The absurdity of the rich and powerful is shown in Miles’ private Greek island. It’s disgustingly luxurious, but Johnson lets his imagination run wild to show wealth, power and genius in all of its nonsense. Miles, who claims to have built the idea of Alpha on a piece of tissue, surrounds himself with robots, gadgets and everything that makes him look smart. Even his private island has a Banksy-designed ice bridge that rises from the water. The deeper and deeper Benoit and Johnson dig into the mysterious murder, it becomes clear what the actual risks are and how people are willing to betray each other to keep themselves safe from being exposed. Johnson constantly keeps the audience guessing and moving the puzzle pieces around, and it is clear that Glass Onion’s whodunnit element is constructed better than Knives Out.
Johnson keeps the whodunnit narrative within the group of friends, which makes it personal and expansive. Each of the characters has their own motivations to kill the person and secrets that could cause more problems for them. The director also uses impressive devices to rewind back time and slowly reveal the actual story behind the murder mystery. He takes quite the gamble to pull off the mysterious reveals, but everything works out in the end. Johnson focuses on each suspect carefully and keeps a few suspects for the audience to guess. It’s captivating and intriguing when the perspectives shift and change to peel off the layers.
Glass Onion has a tremendously fun plot that keeps the audience engaged. Amidst the fun plot of Glass Onion, which was set a few months into the pandemic, the characters mention how amazing it is to get back to normalcy on the island without wearing any masks and not worrying about lockdowns. It’s a fun experience to watch the movie amongst people who have once been in the same situation. Johnson creates an otherworldly experience by creating a whole new cast of characters and the bizarreness of them all. It’s a bigger and bolder movie than its predecessors, which will never be able to come close to the entertaining moments of Knives Out. Just like its predecessor, Johnson lashes out at everyone and points out the absurdity and stupidity of the rich and powerful by embodying the caricatures of real-life people.
