"GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY" (2022) Review

 

"GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY" (2022) Review

Following the success of his 2019 murder mystery, "KNIVES OUT"; writer-director Rian Johnson created a standalone sequel called "GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY". The movie starred Daniel Craig, who reprised his role as the Louisiana-born master detective, Benoit Blanc.

Set during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, "GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY" . . . or "GLASS ONION" . . . featured Blanc solving a case that revolved around a tech billionaire named Miles Bron, owner and co-founder of the Alpha tech company, and his closest "friends" at the billionaire's private Greek island. The movie began with several of Bron's friends each receiving a wooden puzzle box to decipher to find an invitation inside - an invitation to a murder mystery game. The friends travel to Miles's island, along with companions for two of the guests. Famous detective Benoit Blanc joins them. Miles claimed he did not invite Blanc, but he allowed the latter to stay, assuming another guest sent him an invitation as a joke. Among those invited include:

*Alpha head scientist Lionel Toussaint
*Connecticut governor Claire Debell
*Controversial fashion designer and model Birdie Jay
*Birdie's personal assistant Peg
*Men's rights streamer Duke Cody
*Whiskey, Duke's girlfriend and Twitch channel assistant
*Ousted Alpha co-founder Cassandra "Andi" Brand

Not long after their arrival and before dinner, Miles showed off his valuable glass sculptures, as well as the Mona Lisa, which he has on loan from the Louvre to his guests. Miles also revealed that his mansion is powered by "Klear", a hydrogen-based alternative fuel that Alpha will launch imminently, despite Lionel and Claire's concerns that it is untested and dangerous. Blanc managed to solve Miles's murder mystery game immediately before it could barely start. But he privately warned Miles that his guests have motives to kill him. Before the first day could end, a murder occurred inside the mansion.

Once again, Rian Johnson utilized a social issue as a theme for his second murder mystery. In the case of "GLASS ONION", one would think the issue revolved around Birdie's casual racism or Duke's sexism. But the real issue seemed to be the character of Miles Bron. It did not take me long to realize that Johnson had based Miles on tech billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page. But many have claimed that the Miles Bron bore the strongest resemblance to the most publicized tech mogul - Elon Musk. This movie seemed more focused on condemning the tech mogul types and probably the Internet celebrities than simply focusing on the usual social issues. I am not criticizing Johnson for this, especially since many of these tech moguls have proven to be influential on society today. Perhaps too influential . . . and for better or worse. In the case of Miles Bron, the worse seemed more obvious.

Miles' impact on the major characters seemed to be more personal than political. Both Lionel and Claire find themselves being forced by Miles to endorse his new alternative fuel, Klear; despite their fears that is untested and dangerous. Such endorsement would endanger their reputations and careers. Birdie needs Miles' financial support for her fashion line following the revelation that her factories were basically sweatshops. And Duke hopes Miles will give him a show on the latter's Alpha News network. Unfortunately, Miles has developed a sexual interest in Whiskey, Duke's girlfriend. However, Johnson's screenplay seemed more interested in the negative portrayal of Miles as the typical tech billionaire than his connections to the movie's other major characters. And this emphasis on tech moguls like Miles Bron, despite being genuinely interesting and entertaining, seemed to have a less powerful message than the one used in 2019's "KNIVES OUT".

"GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY" featured some very interesting characters, who almost struck me as borderline cartoonish. Mind you, I thought some of the characters managed to avoid this slight cartoonish taint - especially Benoit, Andi Brand, Claire Debella and Lionel Toussaint. But I found some of the other characters slightly exaggerated, yet at the same time, entertaining. Whether I found their characters exaggerated or not, I cannot deny that this movie featured some first-rate performances. I did not have an issue with one performance in this film. Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom, Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline and Noah Segan all gave first-rate performances. The movie also featured entertaining cameos from the likes of Hugh Grant, Angela Landsbury, Ethan Hawke, Stephen Sondheim, Natasha Lyonne, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jake Tapper and Serena Williams. The movie even featured images of Jeremy Renner and Jared Leto on appear on bottles of hot sauce and kombucha. But there were performances that impressed just a bit more than others.

One of those performances came from Dave Baustista, who was not only surprisingly effective as the sexist Duke, but also managed to convey more layers behind what could have easily been a cartoonish character in the hands of a less talented actor. I realize many would find this hard to believe but I did find the Miles Bron character a bit exaggerated at times. But Edward Norton gave such a fabulous performance as the arrogant and self-involved Miles that his exaggeration almost seemed natural to me. Janelle Monáe managed to attract a great deal of positive reviews for her performance as "Andi" Brand. And I can see why. She gave a phenomenal performance as co-founder of Alpha, who seemed embittered by Miles' ouster of her, following her refusal to support his new alternative fuel, Klear. More importantly, Monáe did an excellent job in conveying her character's edgy and intense personality, which kept everyone else on edge . . . and wondering if she had changed. Not surprisingly, Daniel Craig gave a perfect performance in his second outing as the New Orleans-born private detective Benoit Blanc. Not only did he managed to tone down his Foghorn Leghorn routine from the first film, I found myself entertained by his conveyance of Blanc's reactions to the lunacy and shallowness of Miles and most of his fellow guests.

But as much as I had enjoyed the movie's narrative, I had a few issues. Once, since this movie was set in May 2020, were audiences really supposed to accept Miles' quickie COVID-19 cure as effective? Considering Blanc's opinion of the billionaire, I rather doubt it. I suspect that Blanc, Miles and the latter's guests were forced to monitor their health, following their departure from the island. When the party's first real victim dropped dead, I immediately knew the killer's identity. This aspect of "GLASS ONION" bore a strong resemblance to one or two of Agatha Christie's novels. Also, I had a problem with the movie's revelation scene after Blanc exposed the real killer. I wish I could go into details about why I found the writing for that scene very contrived, but I do not want to spoil the movie. Oh well. At least I was impressed by Bob Ducsay's editing, especially in the film's revelation scene; and Steve Yedlin's colorful photography of the Greek locations, especially in the movie's first twenty minutes or so.

Despite my few issues regarding "GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY", I must admit that I still managed to enjoy it very much. The film benefited from Rian Johnson's screenplay and direction, along with first-rate performances from a cast led by Daniel Craig. Like I said, I enjoyed the movie very much. But I still believe "KNIVES OUT" was the superior film.