GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2022)

SYNOPSIS: You’re invited to put the pieces together. In the follow-up to Rian Johnson's Knives Out, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Although we are still trying to figure out why Daniel Craig prefer to phase out his James Bond character and heaping praises on his Benoit Blanc private detective character, Craig is back teaming up with writer and director Rian Johnson for his second Blanc outing and this time the crime is set in a lush Greek island that boasts cutting edge design and a building called “Glass Onion”.

Eccentric tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has invited his bunch of five friends whom he dubbed the “disruptors” to his private island over the weekend for a game of murder mystery. His disruptors include has-been airhead fashion icon, Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), Twitch streamer Duke (Dave Bautista), his girlfriend Whisky (Madelyn Cline), Connecticut governor Claire Della (Kathryn Hahn), Bron’s top scientist, Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Cassandra “Andi” Brand (Janelle Monae), Bron’s ex-girlfriend and business partner whom he had a very public fallout. And lastly of course, the Southern-accented detective Benoit Blanc.

As always with any other whodunnit mystery, the suspects are quickly established. In the case of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, even the motives are revealed quite early on. But yet, like a piece of stubborn onion, there are layers and layers to the truth and Johnson appears to overly indulge in his desire to deliver some social commentary to the whole shenanigans that the entire first act is deliberate and plodding.

Despite the star-studded cast, none of the stars are playing any characters that are worth any ounce of empathy. Birdie Jay no offence is an airhead who has problem understanding even the word “sweatshop”. Duke is a trigger-happy, macho man who needs to pimp out his girlfriend in order to boast his career. Bron’s sponsored Governor Claire Della is concerned about her friend’s latest nonsensical hydrogen powered plan. In short, most of Bron’s friends are here for his money except Andi whom of course makes the whole movie far more interesting than it should be.

Of course, Norton shines as the douchebag billionaire/IT genius. Maybe he is trying his best to pull off a Elon Musk/Steve Jobs impersonation and he certainly succeeds in this case. Craig on the other hand needs a little get used to despite it’s his second attempt in doing a role specialising in detective sleuthing than jumping off buildings and firing off automatic weapons at every given opportunity. Janelle Monae deserved the highest accolades although the least said, the better for her character.

While Johnson has been criticised heavily by long-time Star Wars fans for his work on The Last Jedi, the Looper filmmaker is obviously more at ease constructing his maze like plotting, varying characters perspective and tricky flashbacks in his Knives Out franchise. With the help of his regular collaborator, editor Bob Ducsay, Johnson assembled a mystery thriller full of twists and humour tailored for the millennials and a touch of “Clue” for the old-timers.

If the first Knives Out is one of your favourite flicks in 2019 or you love any of Hercule Poirot’s outings then you shouldn’t miss this whodunnit sequel. We wouldn’t classify this as a clever mystery that fry your brains but a fun outing nevertheless. On a side note, Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke appears briefly. The former probably Blanc’s roommate or partner and the latter in a covid-19 related gag.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee