The long-term legacies of 2019’s Knives Out are that it was both a massive, word-of-mouth international hit and that it served to vindicate writer-director Rian Johnson, who at the time was dealing with a rather vocal online contingent of people who didn’t care for his Star Wars film. After the The Last Jedi kerfuffle, Johnson made Knives Out while the Star Wars military-industrial complex made The Rise of Skywalker, so we can put all that to bed now as settled business. With a big infusion of Netflix dollars, the chaos of that early portion of the pandemic where people at least tried to look like they cared about the health of others, and a whole new cast of all kinds of stars for Daniel Craig’s perceptive detective Benoit Blanc to play with, the stage was set with as many questions as the mysteries Johnson & Co. are paying tribute to.
The titular Glass Onion is an ostentatious glass-and-chrome monstrosity on a private island in the Aegean Sea, just off the coast of Greece. It belongs to billionaire tech icon Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who has made it the destination site for his latest annual get-together with a group of friends from back in the day: a governor (Agatha all along, Kathryn Hahn), a disgraced party girl/luxury sweatpants impresario (Kate Hudson, mercilessly funny and working Dyan Cannon vibes), a research scientist (Leslie Odom Jr.), an MRA YouTuber (Dave Bautista) and, shockingly, the former business partner coming off a tumultuous court case (Janelle Monáe, who gets the best outfits). Add in an assistant (Jessica Henwick), a girlfriend (Madelyn Cline) and Derol (Noah Segan), the stoner houseguest lurking in the background, and the stage is set for a murder. It seems Blanc may have his work cut out for him.
But given as the guests were invited to a murder (it says so on the invitations), there’s more going on here than might be initially surmised. Mystery is a genre that lives or dies by its structure, and Glass Onion is structured masterfully. Think about how Knives Out played with the way that mysteries unfold, finding a new way into the tropes that readers and moviegoers have delighted in for centuries. It happens here as well, but not exactly how you might expect. So know that if nothing else, Glass Onion is a luxurious testament to the pleasure of a great story told in an innovative fashion.
It’s also genuinely wild how relevant and of-the-moment this film plays. Tech disruptors, art protests, mask philosophy, the impending collapse of the petrochemical industry — they’re all part of the tale. And like the best mystery films Johnson has shouted out — for this one, particularly The Last of Sheila (currently on TCM and its app) and Evil Under the Sun — this is a film that becomes even more fun once you know whodunnit and whytheydunnit. The design is impeccable, the cast is game, and the mystery is a good one. Plus it’s a delight to hang out in — I particularly want to see more of theater legend Jackie Hoffman as Bautista’s mom, the kind of iconic cameo that will forever live in memes. Between Hoffman here and Jeannie Berlin in The Fabelmans, it’s great to see a renaissance for deadpan women with spines of steel.
Though only in theaters for a week starting Wednesday, Nov. 23, this is going to be big. But truthfully, I’m ecstatic the apparatus is in place for at least one more Benoit Blanc adventure, because this comfortable stew — a terrycloth robe of a movie — is just as entertaining and re-viewable as its predecessor.
