Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Daniel Craig, Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick
Intro:
… engages on so many levels that it dazzles.
There have been many films this year satirising the über wealthy; from Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness to Mark Mylod’s The Menu, but none of them have managed to do it as cleverly and cheekily as Rian Johnson’s sequel to his 2019 film Knives Out.
There is something prescient and extremely of the moment in Glass Onion that sees the return of Southern gentleman detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), investigating a mystery involving new money (as opposed to the old money in Knives Out), and the kinds of people who make it, and how.
Bigger, brasher, and arguably funnier than its predecessor, Glass Onion has instant classic stamped all over it.
Like everyone else, Blanc has been enduring lockdown, but the sleuth isn’t coping with it well. He’s living in his bathtub playing Zoom games with brilliant friends (including, on a melancholy note, Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury). A knock at the door changes it all for him and once more the game is afoot.
Blanc has received an invitation to play a murder mystery game at a private Greek island owned by tech billionaire, Miles (Elon Musk) Bron (Edward Norton). Amongst the other guests are Bron’s long-time friends ‘The Disruptors’, who include MRA streamer and gun enthusiast, Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) and his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), ex-model and fashionista with a Roseanne Barr style Twitter presence, Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), her exhausted assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), progressive Governor and Senatorial candidate, Claire Della (Kathryn Hahn), chief scientist of Bron’s company, Alpha, Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Bron’s estranged business partner, Cassandra ‘Andi’ Brand (Janelle Monáe). It’s veritable smorgasbord of people who in some way owe their success to Bron (or perhaps in reality to Andi). It’s an invitation they can’t refuse.
Like the intricate puzzle box that Bron sends each of his guests (mostly solved by Duke’s mother in an excellent but all too brief appearance by Jackie Hoffman), there are a lot of layers to get through (like, say the layers of an onion) before the audience is clued in on where the whodunit is going. Wherever the audience thinks it’s going, you can be assured writer/director Johnson has another reveal for you. As a good old fashioned murder mystery, Glass Onion delivers twice, but as a commentary on just what ‘shit heads’ people can be, it delivers multiple times.
Glass Onion expands on Blanc’s particular style, with the audience learning a lot more about the detective this time around; his impatience with idiocy and unoriginality, his ironic distaste for boardgames and logic puzzles, his sadness at being able to achieve only so much in the world of justice as a consulting detective (shades of Poirot), and his surprising domestic situation (a cameo that is too delicious to spoil). Glass Onion also makes a lot of jokes at Blanc’s expense, in fact the expense of any person who has a brand (Jared Leto and Jeremy Renner are off-screen punchlines). That the road to contemporary success seems to involve many people committing to a ‘brand’ has not escaped Johnson’s satirical eye.
When it comes to the mystery aspect, there is simply too much to unpack, and no-one wants spoilers about a whodunit. There are plenty of red herrings and surprises, and suffice to say, motives for everyone to want at least one person on that island dead. What becomes clear (or Klear) is that revenge is a dish best served with a side of ingenuity when dealing with almost exclusively corrupt and/or stupid people.
Although this time around, it is much more Blanc’s (and by extension Craig’s) film, the true star is Janelle Monáe who takes on a very demanding role and delivers its complexities with charm and determination. Johnson has once again assembled a great cast with Norton, Hudson, and Hahn delivering wonderful and hilarious performances. Like Knives Out the production standards are literally to die for. From Bron’s ludicrously outfitted island with a Banksy pier and a Matisse in the bathroom – through to the impeccable ‘Glass Onion’ on top of Bron’s mansion. Glass Onion begs for rewatches just to catch the wealth of pop and contemporary art references, plus of course the intriguing use of the Mona Lisa.
Netflix signing up genre expert Johnson is a canny move. His affection for classic mystery; whether it be hardboiled noir like Brick, or tricky grifter tales such as The Brothers Bloom, or Christie inspired whodunits evident in both Knives Out and Glass Onion, means that the company is getting work with authentic and loving storytelling.
Glass Onion engages on so many levels that it dazzles. It’s not just the wonderful cast, a clever story, and a razor-sharp satire that make the film watchable – it’s the sheer energy that Johnson brings to the screen. Long may we have Benoit Blanc adventures because Johnson’s franchise is purely delectable.
