Glass Onion
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Sequel to: Knives Out
Cast: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Noah Segan, Ethan Hawke, Hugh Grant, Stephen Sondheim, Natasha Lyonne, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Serena Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Seen on: 25.12.2022

Plot:
Every year, Miles Bron (Edward Norton), famous tech billionaire, invites his closest friends to his island home in Greece for a weekend of relaxing and playing. This year, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) was also invited, and to nothing less than a murder mystery party. And another surprising guest makes an appearance: Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), formerly Bron’s business partner until they had a bad falling out. Underneath the relaxed holiday exterior, there are tensions – and Blanc has a case to solve.

Glass Onion was a fantastic sequel to Knives Out, keeping the best parts about Knives Out in the mix of social commentary and humor, but making it feel entirely fresh, too.

Glass Onion was highly anticipated, and we all know that highly anticipated sophomore films (or albums, or books) usually fall flat on their noses because the pressure is high and the makers are usually still trying to find out what their thing actually is. Maybe because Glass Onion may be the second in the series, but is far from being Johnson’s second film, this doesn’t happen here. In fact, the way Glass Onion builds from Knives Out feels like Johnson has been banging out Benoit Blanc mysteries for decades, and has only gotten better at it.

So Glass Onion keeps the campy performances of utterly believable characters (and yes, of course, Bron is a satire of Elon Musk, and that entire genre of guy), and combines them with a hefty dose of criticism of the rich and powerful. The way Blanc cuts through Bron’s bullshit is simply refreshing and wonderful, and his sharp eye generally lays all of them bare. The cast is absolutely fantastic and obviously having a blast, including the very choice cameos that had me gasping a couple of times (Joseph Gordon Levitt’s role did pass me by, though, but it probably will anyone who doesn’t know about it).

So, the film is having fun, the cast is having fun, and the audience is having the most fun of all. The production includes so many details in the background, I’m sure I haven’t caught all of it (the analyses of the art used in it alone that I caught on twitter and elsewhere were amazing) which makes the film a prime candidate for a re-watch. And the story itself has also plenty of surprises in store and takes some really unexpected turns that will make it fun to watch the film again with the knowledge of where things are headed.

In short, it was an absolutely satisfying film that I regret wasn’t shown in cinemas here. But then again, there is something to be said to have been able to watch it at home in the nowhere time between Christmas and New Year’s when I tend to not leave my house. Either way, it is definitely worth watching this film.

Summarizing: excellent.