By: Andrew Wing

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (titled onscreen as simply Glass Onion) is a 2022 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and produced by Johnson and Ram Bergman. It is the sequel to the 2019 film Knives Out, with Daniel Craig (James Bond film series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) reprising his role as master detective Benoit Blanc as he takes on a new case revolving around tech billionaire Miles Bron, who is played by Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Grand Budapest Hotel), and his closest friends. The ensemble cast also includes Janelle Monáe (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision, Step Brothers), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton, One Night in Miami…), Jessica Henwick (The Matrix Resurrections, The Gray Man), Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks, Boy Erased), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Dune).

Johnson had considered the idea of several films featuring the Benoit Blanc character prior to the first film's release. A sequel was greenlit by its original distributor Lionsgate in 2020, but in March 2021 Netflix bought the rights to two Knives Out sequels for $469 million. The cast signed on that May. Filming took place with a $40 million budget on the island of Spetses, Greece in June and July 2021, and continued in Belgrade until September 2021.

Following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, Glass Onion began a one-week limited theatrical release on November 23, 2022, receiving the widest theatrical release ever for a Netflix film and grossing $115 million; Netflix began streaming it on December 23, 2022. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and received two nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Craig.

THE GOOD

The time has finally come! Once I heard that there would be a sequel to the smash hit from 2019, Knives Out, I have been so excited! Knives Out was a top ten movie from 2019 for me, which was just a stacked year when it came to movies, and it is one of my personal favorites. More than that, once I saw the ensemble cast that was headlining the sequel, I knew this movie was just going to be amazing. It finally hit Netflix a couple of weeks ago, but before I could watch it, I just felt like I had to rewatch the original and let’s just say it holds up on a rewatch. That said, I finally got around to checking out Glass Onion, but did it live up to my crazy high expectations? Keep reading to find out!

It most certainly did! I loved Glass Onion! Just like the first one is already considered a murder mystery classic, I really think Glass Onion lives up to the first one in every which way and will likely also become a classic of the murder mystery genre. I know that’s kind of crazy to say, but I really believe that, and a big reason I do is because of Rian Johnson’s abilities as a writer/director which he absolutely put on full display here! I am such a huge fan of Johnson. His sci-fi film Looper from 2012, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis is very underrated and I don’t care what all the psychotic Star Wars fans say, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a freaking awesome movie. I hate that he got a lot of online hate for what he did in that movie, but I’m glad that he has a chance to shut the haters up soon as he is reportedly going to get to write his own trilogy of Star Wars films down the line and get to direct the first installment which just puts me over the moon!

As for what Rian Johnson does in Glass Onion, he just crushed it in every aspect! I felt like he leveled up as a director honesty with some of the framing in some of the shots we got in Glass Onion. There was truthfully purpose behind every single shot. As for the story, he certainly had a challenge here following up on such a great film, but he freaking did it! The script and the movie itself felt less like a sequel and more like an anthology in my opinion as it felt like a separate movie if that makes sense. That said, Johnson still provided us as an audience with those same delicious pleasures with the comedy and the fun we have unraveling this mystery! It’s truly remarkable to me how he can come up with these stories. I can’t even imagine trying to come up with a murder mystery but he makes it look so easy and you can feel while watching the film the giddiness and enjoyment he got from writing this screenplay. The script is just so masterful as it is filled with so much great dialogue from quirky characters, and also a ton of great social commentary. All in all, I’d say Johnson and Ram Bergman, the man he co-wrote the screenplay with, are locks to get nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

I won’t lie, Chris Evans’ performance as Ransom was my favorite performance from Knives Out, but Daniel Craig’s character of Benoit Blanc was certainly my favorite from that film. And as much as I loved Blanc in the first film, I really think I came to love him more in this film because he represents the audience in a sense as he is desiring to have a good mystery just like we are as we watch. His character is just so funny and he brings so much joy, unlike any other character I watched on screen this year! As for Craig’s performance as the character in this sequel, he, like Rian Johnson, just did it again! I love Craig as an actor obviously being a huge fan of the James Bond films, but I just can’t get enough of his thick southern accent here. Sure, some will say he is overacting and is cartoonish, but I was just such a huge fan of everything he did here and I wouldn’t mind seeing him get an Oscar nomination for his performance here because it’s unforgettable!

As I previously mentioned, once I heard the ensemble cast that would be alongside Daniel Craig in this one, I almost passed out. Seriously though, the cast is stacked and I just loved getting a whole new colorful cast of characters. And let’s just say, the ensemble cast did not disappoint because they were extremely fun! I won’t touch on all of the members of the ensemble cast, but Janelle Monáe definitely got the largest role and this was just a showcase for her because she is fantastic and more than worthy of a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Kate Hudson is very funny as she gives a very big performance in this and I thought Edward Norton was a huge standout for me as he had one of the best performances as the tech billionaire Miles Bron.

As for some of the technical elements, let’s discuss the cinematography. The cinematography in the original was great and Steve Yedlin beautifully captured the New England region. But with Glass Onion, we get an entirely new location in Greece that was beautifully shot once again by Steve Yedlin. As a whole, the movie is just so stunning to look at. The costumes are awesome and the production design is on another level. The mansion in this film looks incredible and all the props in the mansion felt thematically significant to the film and I really think they deserve an Oscar nomination as well! And last but not least, I really liked the score from Nathan Johnson here as it is definitely one of the best of his career!

THE BAD

I’ll say it again, I loved Glass Onion! That said, I just have to put it a tick below the first. I could maybe even be convinced that it is as good on a second watch, but I just can’t say it’s better. One reason for that is because the story we get in Glass Onion, as much as I enjoyed it, is a far more complicated story than Knives Out. I have seen some critics call the movie an “explainathon” because, for a majority of the movie, you are getting explained what is going on. And sure, it takes a lot of time and maybe that time could have been better spent exploring the characters, but in my opinion, all the explaining was so fun and the big conclusion did not let us down so who cares about how we got there!

THE VERDICT

Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is such a fun movie full of amazing performances from the entire ensemble cast that is once again led by Daniel Craig as the hilarious private detective, Benoit Blanc. The writing is amazing and so fresh, the production design is outstanding, and Nathan Johnson’s score is arguably the best of his career!

As I said earlier in the review, I have this just a tick below Knives Out, but I couldn’t recommend this movie more, so watch it ASAP with family and friends because I guarantee you will have a good time with it!