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The best bits in “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” are the ones you won’t read about in this review (and hopefully won’t hear about before you see the movie). But rest assured that they are plentiful, and they’re scattered generously throughout Rian Johnson ’s uproarious if slightly inferior sequel.

The clever details, amusing name-drops, and precisely pointed digs at vapid celebrity culture keep Johnson’s movie zippy when it threatens to drag. In following up his 2019 smash hit “ Knives Out ,” the writer/director has expanded his storytelling scope in every way. Everything is bigger, flashier, and twistier. The running time is longer, as is the time frame the narrative covers. But that doesn’t necessarily make “Glass Onion” better. A wildly entertaining beginning gives way to a saggy midsection, as Johnson’s mystery doubles back on itself to reveal more details about these characters we thought we’d come to know. The result feels repetitive. The percolating tension that existed within the classy confines of the first “Knives Out” has lessened here against the sprawling, sun-dappled splendor of an over-the-top, private Greek island.

And it would just be tough for Johnson to top his original film, which was so smart and singular—hilarious, but also legitimately suspenseful. His characters felt richer (no pun intended) the first time around, and his ensemble cast had more to do across the board. “Glass Onion” offers some meaty and meaningful performances, particularly from Janelle Monáe , Kate Hudson , and Daniel Craig , once again doing his best Foghorn Leghorn impression as the intrepid detective Benoit Blanc. And several of his high-profile cameos are a giddy delight. But multitalented actors capable of daring, exciting work, such as Leslie Odom Jr. and Kathryn Hahn , frustratingly go to waste in underdeveloped supporting parts.

Still, if you can catch “Glass Onion” in its one-week theatrical run before it streams on Netflix starting December 23, it’s a film that benefits from the collective energy of an enthusiastic audience. Plus, it’ll help you avoid any spoilers that might dribble out over the next month. So: here goes!

Edward Norton plays Miles Bron, a billionaire tech bro who isn’t nearly as brilliant as he thinks. Once a year, he amasses his tight-knit clique—a disparate group of people who smugly refer to themselves as “The Disruptors”—for a lavish, weekend vacation. This time, he’s shipped them all multilayered puzzle boxes (an early indicator of the kind of elaborate production design Rick Heinrichs has in store for us) as a tease for the murder mystery he’s planned at his isolated getaway. His mansion manages to be gaudy yet chicly minimalist at once, an indication that he has no recognizable personal style of his own.

His guests include Hudson’s model-turned-influencer Birdie, who keeps getting into trouble for tweets she doesn’t realize are racist; Hahn’s married mom and no-nonsense politician Claire; Dave Bautista ’s brash men’s-rights YouTuber Duke Cody and his scantily clad girlfriend, Whiskey ( Madelyn Cline , finding surprising shading); and Odom’s beleaguered scientist, Lionel, who endures urgent faxes from Miles at all hours of the day and night. Also receiving an unexpected invitation is the jovial and fashionable Benoit Blanc, who welcomes the fun of this challenge, as he seems at sea between cases. Once again, it’s truly a joy to watch Craig get goofy.

Their reunion is all warm smiles and hugs until Monáe’s Andi Brand shows up. She was Miles’ partner in building his business empire; now, she’s on the outs with everyone. Her arrival sends an instant charge through the group and sends Blanc’s antennae buzzing. It’s a promising setup.

But as the title (taken from the Beatles song) suggests, there are layers upon layers to unpeel, yet the truth at the center is also crystal clear. As an indictment of the way extreme wealth corrupts, this whole exercise is pretty obvious, and it fits securely within a series of recent satires (“ Triangle of Sadness ,” “ The Menu ”) that aim at some easy targets, albeit with copious wit and style.

Monáe’s spectacular performance gives us something substantial to hold onto in this transactional world. The celebrity cameos are a consistent hoot, but Monáe—especially in her interactions with Craig—provides the necessary emotional heft and deeper meaning. Hudson’s performance is also more complex than we might initially expect. She combines an infectious ditziness reminiscent of her glorious mother, Goldie Hawn , with the kind of depth and vulnerability she displayed in her Oscar-nominated supporting work in “ Almost Famous .” It’s an enjoyable change of pace to see the normally likable Bautista play such an obnoxious figure. And Craig offers slightly different versions of Blanc, depending on the situation; his technical precision is impressive, as always.

Trying to outsmart this deliriously complicated plot is part of the fun, too, but it also becomes an unwieldy process in time. Still, “Glass Onion” remains dazzling to watch, from the shimmering images from Johnson’s usual cinematographer Steve Yedlin to the truly inspired costume design by Jenny Eagan . One particular outfit Norton wears in a crucial flashback scene provides one of the movie’s biggest laughs.

Ultimately, though, the giant glass onion that rests atop Miles’ mansion becomes an all-too-apt metaphor for the movie as a whole: Sparkling, but empty.

Now playing in theaters for a one-week sneak preview and available on Netflix on December 23rd.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Rated PG-13 for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content.

139 minutes

Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc

Edward Norton as Miles Bron

Janelle Monáe as Cassandra 'Andi' Brand / Helen Brand

Kathryn Hahn as Claire Debella

Kate Hudson as Birdie Jay

Dave Bautista as Duke Cody

Leslie Odom Jr. as Lionel Toussaint

Madelyn Cline as Whiskey

Jackie Hoffman as Ma

• Rian Johnson

Cinematographer

• Steve Yedlin
• Nathan Johnson

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‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ Review: Another Clue for You All

Daniel Craig returns as the world’s greatest detective, facing down a blue-chip cast of possible murderers in Rian Johnson’s new whodunit.

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By A.O. Scott

It starts as a game for the amusement of a tech billionaire. Miles Bron, a would-be master of the universe played with knowing exuberance by Edward Norton, invites a small group of friends to a party on his private island. The weekend’s entertainment will be a make-believe murder mystery, with Miles himself as the victim and center of attention. By the end, real homicides have been committed and the fun has become democratic, as rank-and-file ticket buyers and Netflix subscribers enjoy themselves at the expense of imaginary members of the economic, political and cultural elite.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” revives the antic, puzzle-crazy spirit of the first “ Knives Out ,” which was also written and directed by Rian Johnson. This time the satirical stakes have been raised. Miles Bron is a riper target with more recognizable real-world analogues than the eccentric novelist played by Christopher Plummer the first time around. A lone musketeer of disruption, he spouts mantras about the glory of “breaking stuff,” and cloaks his bottomless greed and shallow narcissism in showy messianic robes. He’s not just a rich guy: He’s a visionary, a genius, an author of the amazing human future.

Miles’s friends are all bought and paid for: a model-turned-fashion mogul (Kate Hudson); an idealistic scientist (Leslie Odom Jr.); a pumped-up, over-inked men’s rights YouTube influencer (Dave Bautista); and the governor of Connecticut (Kathryn Hahn). The people named in those parentheses have a grand time sending up contemporary archetypes, and are joined in the whodunit high jinks by Madelyn Cline as Bautista’s girlfriend and by Jessica Henwick, quietly stealing scenes as Hudson’s assistant.

Two other guests show up for the murder game, though they don’t seem to be there in the same hedonistic spirit as the rest. One is Cassandra Brand (Janelle Monáe), known as Andi, Miles’s erstwhile business partner. She is a familiar figure in tech mythology, the genius present at the creation who is cast out by a more ambitious, unscrupulous or media-savvy co-founder. The Eduardo Saverin to Miles’s Mark Zuckerberg , you might say, or maybe the Wozniak to his Jobs .

Andi’s presence on the island is something of a surprise, as is — though not to “Knives Out” fans — the arrival of Benoit Blanc, the world’s greatest detective. Blanc is once again played by a floridly post-Bond Daniel Craig, now sporting an absurd but somehow appropriate collection of neckerchiefs and pastel shirts, and speaking in what was once described as a “Kentucky Fried Chicken Foghorn Leghorn” accent. My ear also picks up undertones of Truman Capote and a sprinkling of Adam Sandler’s “Cajun Man” character from “S.N.L.”

A descendant of Lieutenant Columbo, Hercule Poirot and Edgar Allan Poe’s genre-creating C. Auguste Dupin, Blanc is both a diviner of hidden meanings and a master of the obvious, the soul of discretion and a hogger of the spotlight. He is uncompromising in matters of taste, ethics and English usage, as well as a wet-eyed sentimentalist and a man who likes to have a good time.

In that way, he may be Johnson’s avatar. A pop-culture savant with technique to spare, Johnson approaches the classic detective story with equal measures of breeziness and rigor. The plot twists and loops, stretching logic to the breaking point while making a show of following the rules. I can’t say much about what happens in “Glass Onion” without giving away some surprises, but I can say that some of the pleasure comes from being wrong about what will happen next.

Which means that, by the end, when Blanc wraps it all up and the party disperses, you may feel a little let down. That’s in the nature of the genre, but as in “Knives Out” Johnson turns the committing and solving of crimes into a trellis to be festooned with gaudy characters. The core ensemble does what amounts to superior sketch-comedy work, rising enough above caricature to keep you interested. Monáe goes further, turning what at first seems like the least complex, most serious character into — but I’m afraid if I told you, you would have to kill me.

I also won’t give away any jokes. It’s been a while since I’ve laughed out loud in a movie theater, but I did, partly because a lot of people around me were laughing, too. (I don’t know if the effect would be the same watching the movie at home on Netflix.) “Glass Onion” is completely silly, but it’s not only silly. Explicitly set during the worst months of the Covid pandemic — the spring of 2020 — “Glass Onion” leans into recent history without succumbing to gloom, bitterness or howling rage, which is no small accomplishment. One way to interpret the title is that a glass onion may be sharp, and may have a lot of layers, but it won’t make you cry.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Rated PG-13. Murder, for laughs. Running time: 2 hours 19 minutes. In theaters.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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Glass Onion First Reviews: Bigger, Twistier, and Just as Fun as the First

Critics say rian johnson's new knives out movie is just as satisfying as its predecessor, thanks to a funny, clever script, a winning daniel craig, and a scene-stealing janelle monáe..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , movies

Could Rian Johnson top Knives Out ? That was the question on everyone’s minds when Netflix announced two sequels to the 2019 mystery film, which earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay and became one of the top-grossing original movies of the year. Well, according to the first reviews of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , Johnson has indeed outdone himself. The sequel, which again stars Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, features another impressive ensemble along with even bigger laughs and better twists.

Here’s what critics are saying about Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery :

How does it compare to Knives Out ?

Yes, Glass Onion is even better than Knives Out . – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

In many ways, it’s a more “fun” movie than the first. – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

It’s more pleasing in most respects (and neck-and-neck in most others). – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

[It] manages to recapture the magic of that picture without resorting to replication or imitation. It feels, frankly, like something of a miracle. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

Fans of the first Knives Out will find plenty of the same elements to love, though Johnson has studiously worked to ensure that Glass Onion stands alone. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

The sequel will likely find those who prefer it to the original. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

Glass Onion is a serviceable capitalization on the success of Knives Out . – Martin Tsai, The Wrap

Is Glass Onion a better movie than the first Knives Out ? Not necessarily. But it’s a bigger, showier, even more elaborately multi-faceted shell-game mystery. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

(Photo by ©Netflix)

Does it expand on the original?

Glass Onion [is] a film that really goes by the sequel model of “bigger, faster, more” theory of follow-ups… There’s just SO much to savor in this movie. – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

It doesn’t suffer from the usual “give ’em the same thing, but more of it” bloat common in sequels to surprise hits. – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

[It’s an] even bigger, more ambitious, and, somehow, even more entertaining whodunit than the previous film. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

This is the Aliens of the Knives Out universe. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Glass Onion doesn’t feel like it’s repeating steps, it feels like the continuation of an enthralling dance number. – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

More extravagant and often indulgent… it’s so stuffed with so much that it’ll surely prove more fun to those who appreciate getting more bang for their buck. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

The 139-minute running time is perhaps a little indulgent, but after a bit of a slow start, things move along at a nice pace. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

How is the script?

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is…perhaps even more brilliantly written than the first. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

It boasts one of the most brilliant screenplays of the year, not just in terms of its exquisite, laugh-out-loud dialogue and satirical barbs at pop culture but in the meticulous, meta plotting of a traditional whodunnit that keeps the mind ticking over from start to finish. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Johnson’s witty script [is] written with such tick-tock precision and so meticulously thought-through (and through, and through) that it becomes thrilling just to watch it work, to witness the dexterity with which he’s winding this thing up and letting it spin. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

The script is unafraid to take wild swings where it goes in both tone and construction. – Jason Gorber, That Shelf

More strategy too often has a negative effect on his script. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

(Photo by John Wilson/©Netflix)

Will it keep us guessing?

Even more than the first Knives Out , Glass Onion is a thriller wrapped in a deception tucked inside a riddle. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

The joys of Glass Onion involve the plot twists and shocking-but-hilarious revelations Johnson keeps throwing at us at breakneck speed. Every scene is loaded with lightning-sharp wit coupled with a genuinely engrossing mystery. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

As Blanc “solves” one mystery, another pops right up, and Johnson happily shifts gears to tell a whole new story, wrapped inside his first one (like an onion? oh, sure) and then turned inside out. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

Glass Onion finds even more ways to disrupt mystery conventions, constantly shifting what the audience is expecting, and continuously moving the pieces on this ever-shifting puzzle. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

Johnson brilliantly figures out a way to turn his story and his main character inside out. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

Is Glass Onion funnier than Knives Out ?

It is at least as funny as the first outing, if not more. – Wendy Ide, Screen International

[There is] an amplified sense of humor that allows Blanc to blossom in a way that the previous Knives Out would not have allowed. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Best of all, Johnson has ramped up the humor… with huge belly-laugh moments and the types of ultra-clever jokes that will make you want to cheer. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Too many jokes and gimmicks feel more like MadLibs name-checks, and while some do land, there are too many that land with a thud, a reference often confused with a punchline. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

Is the ending satisfying?

The final reveal should prove a fantastic surprise, even if you’ve caught some of the hints along the way… Whether or not you get the right answer, it feels like we all win with this one. – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

The finale doesn’t end with the same on-your-feet oomph that the first one did. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

The explosive finale may be a little messy. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

For a movie this chock-full of surprises, there’s something about seeing the killer revealed that feels, perhaps, a touch less gratifying than before. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

How is Daniel Craig this time around?

It might seem odd to claim that Craig’s best performance is in a Knives Out sequel… Forget James Bond — this was the role Craig was born to play. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Craig, now free of Bond, has finally nailed comedy, revealing previously untapped depths. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Craig is naturally a standout here, getting to play up the goofiness and absurdity of this mystery, in what is likely his best comedic role so far. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

Any other standouts in the cast?

[Edward] Norton is over-the-top hysterical. – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

Edward Norton… hasn’t been this loose in years and sends up the so-called “genius” innovator type to perfection. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

A career-high Norton — where exactly has this fantastic actor been lately? — is just the icing on the cake. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Johnson knows how to use [Norton], and he uses him extremely effectively. – Jason Gorber, That Shelf

Most notable [is] Kate Hudson, relishing a welcome return to comedy, killing it as a frequently cancelled fashionista with an amusing habit for saying and doing the wrong thing. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

Kate Hudson [is] having the scene-stealing, cocktail-swilling time of her life. – Wendy Ide, Screen International

Does Janelle Monáe steal the movie?

The simply fantastic Monáe… puts in one of the best and most intuitively perfect performances of 2022. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Janelle Monáe is transcendent in this. – Jason Gorber, That Shelf

A tremendous standout is Monáe, who has always been a commanding presence, but never had a role like this to really sink her teeth into. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

The standout is Janelle Monáe. – Wendy Ide, Screen International

Monáe is a huge standout, with a particularly tricky role. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Monáe stands out here. Her part is by far the most complex and demanding in the whole screenplay, and she rises to the occasion. – Martin Tsai, The Wrap

Monáe… initially comes off as low-key but quickly emerges as perhaps the most impressive player in the whole movie. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

Monáe will widely be considered the MVP, and that’s valid, but there’s not a single weak link here. – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

Is Glass Onion another triumph for Rian Johnson?

The filmmaker shows absolute mastery of his genre and his craft. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

He’s a master storyteller and there’s no better example of that than in Glass Onion … Johnson proves himself to be a film disruptor of the highest order. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

It’s hard not to have fun when Johnson pulls the strings, I just wish he’d not pulled quite so many and quite so hard. – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

Should we see it in a theater?

This really is a film which is designed to be watched with a packed and rambunctious audience. – Wendy Ide, Screen International

Watching Glass Onion with a crowd feels like a return for movies themselves, a celebration of the joyous communal experience of watching a film with people where the film’s every shift and evolution can be felt by those around you. Glass Onion , with all of its shocks and gigantic laughs, is an experience to be shared. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

I hope they make a major push for a theatrical run because to see this with an audience, to have that electricity of seeing it with a group of people… is really going to play so much better than it would at home… It’s a cinematic film. – Jason Gorber, That Shelf

I wager more people will see this streaming than they will on the big screen. That’s too bad. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

But will it still be great to stream on Netflix?

Cinematographer Steve Yedlin thankfully dodges the ugly, monochromatic flatness of so many Netflix originals; it’s bright, sharp, and colorful, filled with striking hero shots and elegant group compositions. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

Unusually for a recent Netflix presentation, hardly a minute is wasted… A frenetic kinetic pace that never lets up. – Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood Daily

The hodgepodge of plot points and casting choices seem emblematic of filmmaking by algorithm. Those without Netflix subscriptions aren’t necessarily missing out. – Martin Tsai, The Wrap

Will it leave us wanting more?

One thing is for sure – no one will walk out of this not wanting to see more Benoit Blanc adventures. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

I can’t wait to see what case Benoit Blanc gets mixed up in next. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Johnson can’t churn these babies out fast enough. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

I really hope he does [one] every three years. – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

Next time the knives should cut deeper. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery premieres on Netflix on December 23, 2022.

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‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ Review: As Sharp as the First One, But in a Go-Big-or-Go-Home Way, and Daniel Craig Once Again Rules

Rian Johnson's whodunit sequel has a new set of suspects and even more elaborate games.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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It’s in the nature of cinema that if a hugely popular and beloved movie is grand enough, the sequel to it almost has to try to top it in a go-big-or-go-home way. For a long time, each new James Bond adventure was more lavishly scaled, baroque, and stunt-tastic than the last. “The Godfather Part II” was darker and even longer than “The Godfather,” “The Empire Strikes Back” enlarged the awesomeness of “Star Wars,” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” made the first “Terminator” look like a minimalist trinket.

Popular on Variety

In the opening sequence, each character is summoned by having the same hard-wood box delivered to their home, which contains a series of puzzles they’re meant to solve, each puzzle unlocking the next. That’s a metaphor for how the movie works. Even more than the first “Knives Out,” “Glass Onion” is a thriller wrapped in a deception tucked inside a riddle. It is, of course, a murder mystery with multiple suspects, but it’s one that comes with byways and flashbacks and bells and whistles, not to mention two whodunit homicides for the price of one.

The film is set shortly after the pandemic started, so the invitees are all grateful to be there. (They’re administered a throat spray by Miles’ assistant, played by Ethan Hawke, who for some reason is never seen again.) Each has attained a noteworthy position in the world by becoming some sort of “disruptor.” And they owe their success to Miles, who has bankrolled all of them. But that also gives each a motivation for murder.

Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), the governor of Connecticut, is a former soccer mom who is taking on the political machine. Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) is a gun-nut yahoo and influencer who became the first person to win a million followers on Twitch. Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) is a former supermodel who has parlayed her scandalous celebrity — she was semi-canceled for a Beyoncé Halloween costume — into overseeing a sweatpants empire. Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a scientist who works for Miles. And Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe) is Miles’ former business partner, who lost everything during a hostile split with him but has been invited to the island to make amends, and has agreed to come because…well, why she would do so after she got screwed over so badly is the film’s first mystery.

The second one is what Benoit Blanc is doing there. He claims to have received one of the puzzle-box invitations, but Miles says he never sent it. Yet he doesn’t mind that Blanc is there. Miles, you see, has organized a murder-mystery game for the weekend, in which he is going to be “killed,” and having the world’s greatest detective on site will only make it more fun. Early on, Miles takes Blanc up to the glass onion, and as the two square off, Blanc seems a bit tentative and out of sorts. Is he in over his head? Hardly.

In an outrageous scene, Blanc solves the game that Miles is trying to play before it even takes place. That’s the film’s idea of an appetizer. “Glass Onion” expands into something even more extravagant than the first “Knives Out,” which is what you want, even if at moments it can feel like a little more than you want. It would be a crime to reveal too much, but Andi, openly suspicious in her shiny blonde bob, is the most fascinating character, and Janelle Monáe invests her with a moody indignation that singes like a hidden candle. A flashback reveals why she’s really there, and who her secret partner is.

Is “Glass Onion” a better movie than the first “Knives Out”? Not necessarily. But it’s a bigger, showier, even more elaborately multi-faceted shell-game mystery. Craig has figured out how to let his wry performance sneak up on you all over again, and the suspects hover in a tasty zone between toxic and sympathetic. Yet for a movie this chock-full of surprises, there’s something about seeing the killer revealed that feels, perhaps, a touch less gratifying than before. “Glass Onion” is the first of two “Knives Out” sequels. It thoroughly delivers, but next time the knives should cut deeper.

Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival, Sept. 10, 2022. MPA rating: PG-13. Running time: 139 MIN.

• Production: A Netflix release of a Lionsgate, T-Street production. Producers: Rian Johnson, Ram Bergman. Executive producer: Tom Karnowski.
• Crew: Director, screenplay: Rian Johnson. Camera: Steve Yedlin. Editor: Bob Ducsay. Music: Nathan Johnson.
• With: Daniel Craig, Ed Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Ethan Hawke, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Madelyn Cline.

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Reviews

You could fully skip this movie or watch it…it doesn’t matter. Go watch The Last of Shelia

Full Review | Apr 24, 2024

If it has to be 3 hours long, write a better script

Glass Onion is another fantastic whodunnit from Rian Johnson, but is it better than Knives Out? Well, that comes down to personal preference and what you seek from these films.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Mar 1, 2024

This movie, unsurprisingly, is incredibly smart, and probably a tad more subtle than its predecessor.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2024

While there are elements of the film that stand out as compelling, the mystery at the core is not one of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 5, 2023

There are enough twists and turns in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out follow-up to keep sharp-eyed viewers of all kinds happy, and the location is the best kind of eye candy.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2023

If you do see this film, I recommend seeing it with a large group of people as there are too many hilarious moments, pop culture analogies, and fantastic performances to enjoy it alone.

Full Review | Sep 25, 2023

This is the Aliens of the Knives Out universe, an exponential iteration of a great concept that by now knows its lead character inside out and is thinking big when it comes to finding a cerebral challenge that is worthy of him.

Full Review | Sep 21, 2023

Just like its predecessor, Johnson lashes out at everyone and points out the absurdity and stupidity of the rich and powerful by embodying the caricatures of real-life people.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2023

Overall, the movie is more playful than serious, and its dedication to slowly solving the puzzle makes it both dizzying and delightful.

Full Review | Aug 23, 2023

Glass Onion isn’t just a film — it’s a masterfully crafted game that somehow grows more fun the more you play it, allowing you to pick up on small but rich details you didn’t initially spot.

Full Review | Aug 10, 2023

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is more of a madcap film than “Knives Out,” piling on the absurdity from the opening credits. And just like the 2019 version, the cast is its biggest strength.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 9, 2023

A standard murder mystery elevated by a very talented cast.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 9, 2023

If lacking in the surprise factor of Knives Out, Glass Onion is a riotous time, dialling up the laughs and mystery with cameos and surprises galore, and layers of clever dialogue and writing.

Full Review | Aug 8, 2023

So, all told, I honestly can't quite rate Glass Onion quite as high as I did Knives Out, but it's still tremendous fun with Rian Johnson once again proving just why the murder mystery genre is such an enduring – if sometimes neglected – crowd favourite.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 6, 2023

While Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc is obviously the star of Glass Onion, it's Janelle Monáe and Kate Hudson that really shine.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Is bigger and more lavish, with moments of big-budget lushness sharply delivered by director Rian Johnson... that doesn’t amount to a better project.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 25, 2023

Thank you Daniel Craig for leaving Bond to give us more Benoit Blanc!

Better than the first Knives Out. An incredible mystery that had me all the way up to every single reveal. Rian johnson you genius! Literally hanging on every single word/sequence.

Unlike other franchises that seemingly stick around far longer than they’re welcome, the mysteries of Benoit Blanc have the potential to delight for years to come.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

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‘glass onion: a knives out mystery’ review: rian johnson outdoes himself with a wildly enjoyable sequel.

The follow-up to 'Knives Out' showcases an all-star ensemble including Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom Jr.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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Expressing one’s enthusiasm for Glass Onion , Rian Johnson ‘s sequel to Knives Out , presents a dilemma. Is it possible to declare that it’s more pleasing in most respects (and neck-and-neck in most others) without sounding dismissive of the thoroughly delightful original ? Would it help to add that, walking out of this film, rewatching the first only becomes a more attractive proposition? (And that’s for someone who just revisited Knives again last week.)

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Janelle monáe joins universal musical from michel gondry, pharrell williams, 'sugar' star anna gunn on "true gent" colin farrell, 'breaking bad' reunions and rian johnson's unforgettable gesture, glass onion: a knives out mystery.

It offers a little window or two into the private life of the celebrity detective Benoit Blanc ( Daniel Craig ) — though, in going less deep than Kenneth Branagh did with Poirot in his second Agatha Christie adaptation (which also surpassed its predecessor, by a lot), it keeps the character enough of an enigma that one hopes he’ll be revealed slowly, over many films. (After all, Craig just got free of that other big recurring obligation…) Its surprises may be more ordinary than the biggies in Knives Out , but they’re integral to the fun — and since it’s not possible to acknowledge a couple of the film’s strongest elements without spoiling them (this review won’t spoil anything), its best to say ignore any buzz and just go see the thing.

Edward Norton plays Miles Bron, a ripped-from-the-headlines tech princeling who gets credit for far more inventions than he should. Every year, he invites his little clique of pre-success buddies for a weekend of fun. This time he has planned a pretend murder mystery, in which one of the guests is supposed to have killed him.

Why invite the world’s most famous detective to such an event? Isn’t that like bringing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to your pickup basketball game? How are dummies like Kate Hudson’s former supermodel Birdie (now a lifestyle entrepreneur whose business is financed by Bron) supposed to compete? Or dummies like Dave Bautista ‘s Duke Cody, a men’s-rights YouTuber so attached to his handgun that he goes swimming with it strapped to his Speedo?

Okay, those two aren’t going to win this life-size game of Clue. Connecticut governor Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn) and Birdie’s assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick, standing out again in a smallish role) are smarter, and Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline) is the kind of wild card who could be genuinely sharp under an Instagram-hottie facade.

Being unable to discuss much of the plot lets us get to know the dramatis personae here more than we otherwise might. Nearly all depend on Bron’s money in some way, but he pretends they’re still just great friends. Would it surprise anybody if one of these “shitheads” (the movie’s word, though you’ll agree) might feel like killing Bron for real?

While that potential simmers in the background, Johnson scratches the fresh scab over Brand’s betrayal. All these people used to be her closest friends, yet all lied about her in court when Bron wanted to get rid of her. What’s her angle? Is she here to make them all feel guilty, or just to show them how rich people should dress? (Costume designer Jenny Eagan creates several memorable looks, none more so than Blanc’s seersucker bathing garb.)

That’s one big way in which the Blanc films differ from most of the chamber whodunits that inspired them: Characters others might write off prove crucial to the solutions Blanc helps bring about. He doesn’t use the “arc of truth” metaphor that served him well in the first film, but it seems even more apt here, as he helps set things in motion and then watches them work as they should. It’s deeply satisfying, even before you start to appreciate the way it subverts conventions about authority figures. Even on a private refuge that police have a hard time reaching, justice can sometimes be done. In the movies, anyway.

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• Glass Onion solidifies Knives Out as the next great mystery franchise

An early spoiler-free review of the sequel

By Andrew Webster , an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery establishes Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc as one of the great fictional detectives of our time — and it only took two movies to get there. That’s no easy task in a field dominated by towering figures like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Nick and Nora Charles. But his at first annoying but ultimately endearing Southern charm helps set him apart, as do the puzzle box stories he’s thrown into, which are not only satisfying mysteries on their own but also extremely funny. That was true of the original Knives Out , and the sequel (with its slightly confusing name) ratchets things up: the cast is more eclectic, the mystery is more complex, and rich assholes are richer and more asshole-y. In short, the sequel is a delight. It won’t necessarily win over new viewers, but it’s just the thing for fans of the original — and it’s exactly what Netflix needs for its blockbuster cinematic aspirations.

Glass Onion starts out a little more playful than its predecessor. A Mark Zuckerberg-esque tech billionaire named Miles (Edward Norton) has invited his closest “disruptor” friends to a weekend retreat on his private island in Greece. The group includes Duke (Dave Bautista), an MRA YouTuber and his budding influencer girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline); Connecticut Governor Claire (Kathryn Hahn); a model, fashion designer, and frequently racist tweeter who goes by Birdie J (Kate Hudson) and her more levelheaded assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick); world-famous scientist Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) who works with Miles on more outlandish projects; and Andi (Janelle Monáe), a former, spurned business partner of Miles. Oh, and then there’s Benoit, the world’s most famous detective (in the movie).

The theme of the weekend retreat? A murder mystery party where the guests have to solve the puzzle of Miles’ death.

The film is set in 2020, and at the outset, Benoit is depressingly bored. With the pandemic raging, he spends his time in the bath playing Among Us over Zoom with his celebrity friends. So when the invitation shows up, which comes in the form of an intricate puzzle box, he jumps at the chance.

It’s hard to say too much without getting into spoiler territory (and you definitely want to experience Glass Onion unspoiled, if possible), but as you can imagine, the fictional murder eventually turns into a real crime that needs to be solved. The mystery is a complex one. Despite their very different careers, everyone on the island is connected to each other in important ways, particularly when it comes to Miles and his vast fortune. And the film makes a meal of unpacking it all in delightfully satisfying ways. There are so many moments of payoff in Glass Onion that it’s hard to keep up. And even if you don’t care that much about the conclusion, the path there is a lot of fun.

This largely comes down to the cast of characters. The Thrombey family from the original film has nothing on this group of obscenely wealthy jerks — and each member of the cast is clearly having a great time inhabiting those roles. Norton, in particular, is just incredibly punchable as an out of touch tech mogul, one who drops celebrity names with reckless abandon. (On the island, everyone drinks Jared Leto’s hard kombucha and uses a small-batch hot sauce made by Jeremy Renner.) Duke is such an MRA fanatic that he swims with a pistol tucked into his speedos, creating a not-so-subtle phallic connection, while Birdie Jay’s many public blunders — like comparing herself to Harriet Tubman — are a pitch-perfect indictment of superficial celebrity culture. Everyone is so hateable that it’s very enjoyable watching them go through this whole traumatic experience.

But as great as everyone else is, the real highlights are Craig and Monáe. As much as I loved the first Knives Out , I wasn’t necessarily sold on Benoit as a character. The highlight of that film, it seemed to me at the time, was watching this wealthy family unravel as the mystery was solved. In order for Knives Out to become a franchise instead of a one-off, he had to become more interesting. And that Southern charm has steadily grown on me, through Benoit’s mixture of confidence (he knows he’s a brilliant detective, at one point stating “this crime clashed with the presence of Benoit Blanc”) and a warm kind of humbleness. His big brain doesn’t cause him to look down on folks, and he seems to hold a particular kind of contempt for the 1 percent. Who cares if he sounds like Foghorn Leghorn? It’s hard to say much about Monáe without delving into serious spoiler territory, so I’ll be vague in saying that she shows off an incredible amount of range and helps carry the second half of the film. Watching her work alongside Craig is a joy.

On paper, Glass Onion doesn’t necessarily do all that much new. Like the original and many of its cinematic predecessors , it’s a pretty classic whodunit that doesn’t step too far outside of that mold: it just happens to be a really well-crafted example at a time when there’s not a lot of competition. It even does things that seem like bad ideas, like having an overlong explanation to wrap things up. But it still works through sheer force of will: the hilarious writing and wonderful performances mean that I’m more than willing to sit through just about anything Mr. Blanc has to say. The payoffs are worth letting the film indulge itself every now and then.

Glass Onion is a particularly important film for Netflix. While the streaming service has proven itself adept at creating popular TV franchises, movies haven’t come so easily. So Netflix did the next best thing: bought a franchise. The company spent a lot of money on the sequels to Knives Out , and at least so far, it’s looking like it might have been a good investment. Time will tell if Benoit Blanc’s name does end up joining those rarified heights of Holmes and Poirot, but two movies in, he’s off to an excellent start.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery starts streaming on Netflix on December 23rd but will be in select theaters at some point before then. This review is based on a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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The Knives Out Sequel Glass Onion Is Bigger and Better Than the Original

This review originally published in September out of the Toronto International Film Festival. We are recirculating it timed to Glass Onion ’s streaming debut on Netflix.

The rich are richer in Glass Onion , the effervescent sequel to Knives Out that just had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and arguably more awful — or, at least, awful in grander and more visible ways. While Rian Johnson’s 2019 whodunit focused on the stunted relatives of a famed novelist, people who at least put up some pretense of respectability, his new one turns its attention to a group of “disruptors” who are prominent enough to practice their respective grifts right out in the open. Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn) is the governor of Connecticut and an aspiring senator who talks tough on CNN while quietly approving untested tech in exchange for donor money. Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.) is head scientist at the company, Alpha, that’s responsible for that untested tech, and has rushed timelines and skipped safety procedures at the behest of his boss. Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) is a media personality turned sweatband brand owner who’s so prone to viral scandals that her assistant, Peg (Jessica Henwick), is the keeper of her phone. Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) is a social-media star who’s taken a turn to the alt-right, using his ever-present gun and his much younger girlfriend, Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), as props.

Wealthiest and most repellent of them all is Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who’s the host of the weekend getaway during which the mystery unfolds, a mogul and supposed genius who doesn’t actually seem to do much except self-mythologize and use his money to push people around. He owes more than a bit to Elon Musk, but these crumbling pillars of contemporary society are all designed to feel at least a little familiar. (Maybe too familiar, in the case of Hudson, who’s an absolute scream as the vapid Birdie, but whose activewear brand has been privy to labor-abuse accusations not unlike those of her character’s company, a convergence that’s more of a joke at the audience’s expense than her own.) Glass Onion is bigger and more precisely designed than Knives Out , but what makes it a more satisfying movie is that it sits with its characters more rather than immediately showing off their decay. Instead, theirs is the kind of hollowness that comes from a lifetime of smaller moral compromises, until suddenly you’re on a Greek island with some old friends, contemplating murder.

Obviously, there is a murder, though it happens eventually rather than toward the start of the film, tensions simmering over the course of an annual gathering on Miles’s private Greek island, where he’s built a delightfully hideous mansion that includes a see-through dome filled with billionaire bachelor-pad décor — a douchebag Taj Mahal. This year, Miles intends to throw a murder-mystery party, though he has two surprise guests. Andi (Janelle Monáe), the former business partner who unsuccessfully sued him when he booted her from their company, wasn’t expected to show. And Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), the master detective from Knives Out , wasn’t invited at all, and yet somehow became the recipient of one of the custom puzzle boxes Miles had shipped out to his chosen attendees. Craig’s evident delight in playing Blanc, with his neckerchiefs and Southern-fried accent, is infectious, and Glass Onion ’s longer wind-up allows glimpses into the character’s personal life, which include some random but enjoyable cameos. Johnson allows events to spin out to a pivotal party sequence that’s made jittery by its slightly too quick editing, and then takes us back to the start, revisiting scenes from different angles and with new information.

For all that it’s intricately constructed and set in an extravagant Mediterranean location, Glass Onion has an underlying context that’s not exotic at all — it’s a movie that takes place toward the start of the pandemic without feeling consumed by it. Instead, COVID serves as a backdrop but also the source of some key character details, from the famous painting that Miles has managed to get on loan from a museum to the useless mesh face mask that Birdie prefers. Movies taking place during the early days of our global acquaintanceship with the novel coronavirus have tended to all feel the same, because so many of us were just sitting at home, feeling frightening and isolated and terribly bored. But the characters in Glass Onion aren’t the kind that would feel like they’d be subjected to those same rules, even the ones who consider themselves nominally more responsible. They’re basically doing a short, and very high-end, version of forming a pod, accelerating right into the dramas that accompany the meltdown of so many similar arrangements. Unlike Knives Out , which verged on the self-congratulatory in its politics, Glass Onion allows its class critiques to be built into the characterizations of its rogues’ gallery of suspects, who are also living through a moment that temporarily united so much of the world, but who are not like the rest of us at all.

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Review: As all-star whodunits go, ‘Glass Onion’ has enormous appeal

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The key word in “Glass Onion,” Rian Johnson’s enjoyably deft sequel to “Knives Out,” is “disruption.” The friends who’ve descended on a Greek island paradise are game-changing innovators in the fields of fashion (Kate Hudson), science (Leslie Odom Jr.), politics (Kathryn Hahn) and toxic masculinity (Dave Bautista). Their host is a smug, name-dropping, eminently punchable billionaire whose resemblance to a certain newly installed social-media titan could scarcely have been better planned or timed. And, of course, a post-007 Daniel Craig is back in the mix as Blanc, Benoit Blanc, that genteel charmer of a Southern sleuth who can always be counted on to disrupt a killer’s scheme, even as he serves to anchor what has become an improbably solid franchise.

The keys to that franchise now belong to Netflix, and talk about disruption! “Knives Out,” released three Thanksgivings ago, became a smash hit and suggested there was hope yet for smart, funny original movies in theaters. I suspect “Glass Onion” would have done the same had it been given the chance; instead, it’ll play for just a week in 600 U.S. theaters before it starts streaming Dec. 23, just in time to give Netflix a nice Christmas subscriber boost. It also feels like a criminal disservice to the movie, an audience picture through and through, whose slyly tuned jokes and ingenious surprises are worth discovering with a crowd.

For your safety

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials .

Seek out those crowds, if you feel so moved; the sound of other people’s laughter may drown out a plot point or two, but you’ll experience worse distractions at home. The characters in “Glass Onion,” for their part, have been cooped up for too long. It’s May 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Miles Bron (a pitch-perfect Edward Norton), the aforementioned punchable billionaire, has invited his pals to his private island for a weekend escape. They happily comply, partly to enjoy a spot of lockdown luxury but also because they depend on Miles’ largesse — and therefore, his goodwill — to sustain their reputations and livelihoods.

Which is not to say that they wish him dead, exactly, although Miles’ ex-business partner, Andi (Janelle Monáe), may feel differently. Fired from the company they founded together and cast out from their once tight-knit circle of friends, Andi is one of two guests who turn up on the island unexpectedly; Blanc is the other.

As the two designated outsiders here, they forge an instinctual bond early on that may remind you a bit of Craig’s rapport with Ana de Armas in “Knives Out.” Maybe that’s a red herring on Johnson’s part, or on mine. Suffice to say that Monáe’s splendid, surprising performance is one of the movie’s foremost pleasures, achieving a heft and versatility that throws her co-stars’ amusing if paper-thin antics into sharp relief.

In other respects, “Glass Onion” — a reference to not only the Beatles song but also the large crystalline dome that sits atop Miles’ island compound — subtly echoes and departs from its predecessor, maintaining the usual high quality standards without lapsing too blithely into formula. As the plot gathers steam and accelerates, Johnson again offers a blunt evisceration of the privileged and powerful, only with fancier cocktails, showier bric-a-brac and gaudier outfits. (A frilly orange bikini and a rainbow lamé dress — both worn by Hudson, though not simultaneously — are among costume designer Jenny Eagan’s standout creations; Craig’s vintage blue- and white-striped cabana set is another.)

But if “Knives Out’s” manor house full of rotten apples hews close to the classical detective story template, the suspects in “Glass Onion” feel drawn to more contemporary specifications. You might have cast a vote for an outwardly respectable, privately on-the-take politician like Claire (Hahn) or laughed at the YouTube videos that have made Duke (Bautista) and his girlfriend, Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), a popular duo in men’s rights discourse.

Most of these dimwits — Andi has a less printable word for them — are just one misstep or bad tweet away from cancellation, especially Hudson’s fashion maven, Birdie, whose phone gets routinely confiscated by her loyal assistant (Jessica Henwick). And then there’s Miles, who, like more than a few self-styled tech visionaries, isn’t nearly as clever as he thinks he is — something that Blanc, for all his courtly manners, delights in pointing out early and often.

Cleverness, however, remains very much Johnson’s stock-in-trade. He’s uncannily good at misdirection, at smuggling clues into throwaway dialogue and keeping the identities of not only his killer(s?) but also his victim(s?) under wraps for a remarkably long stretch. And in keeping with the title’s governing metaphor — a puzzle that is at once fiendishly multilayered and wholly transparent — he’s skilled enough to hide some of his most incriminating evidence in plain sight. The central mystery hinges on an audacious structural coup that produces a succession of giddy, breathless moments in the movie’s second half, as cinematographer Steve Yedlin and editor Bob Ducsay excel at reframing earlier plot points from revelatory new perspectives.

If the actual solution doesn’t turn out to be as elaborate or airtight in its construction as “Knives Out” was, that’s partly because the satirical dynamics — the inequity between the power Miles wields and the friends cowering and seething in his shadow — don’t entirely allow for it. If there’s a weakness to Johnson’s conception of both movies, it’s that for all his strong, cohesive work with his ensemble, he hasn’t figured out a way to make all his characters equally compelling. To single out which actors fare better or worse is to risk spoiling a few surprises, though it gives away nothing to reiterate the droll, goofy pleasure of Craig’s company.

Blanc’s charms as a character are both obvious and layered: His air of comic befuddlement disguises a razor-sharp intellect, and he often deploys his armchair-detective showmanship to sneaky, subversive ends.

And like Hercule Poirot, Gideon Fell and a lot of other detectives with big brains and distinctive speech patterns, Blanc is a moralist and an idealist at heart — someone whose sympathies are instinctually with the wronged and neglected, and who believes fervently in the possibility of justice even when the law cannot provide it. That’s its own kind of disruption, I guess, except that it also fits a pretty satisfying formula. The “Knives Out” movies don’t need to be reinvented or broken open. But a distributor worthy of them and their audience wouldn’t hurt.

‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’

Rated: PG-13, for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content Running time: 2 hours, 19 minutes Playing: Opens Nov. 23 in general release; available Dec. 23 on Netflix

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Justin Chang was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2016 to 2024. He is the author of the book “FilmCraft: Editing” and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery review – crisply mischievous sequel

Daniel Craig returns as the ace detective in Rian Johnson’s expertly crafted whodunnit, set on the private island of Edward Norton’s billionaire doofus

W hat if the billionaire entrepreneur was not, in fact, a business genius and is instead a grade-A doofus who lucked out and glommed on to someone else’s good idea? This is the timely question asked by writer-director Rian Johnson’s exuberantly entertaining sequel to Knives Out .

Daniel Craig once again dons the natty little cravat as ace detective Benoit Blanc, but elsewhere there’s fresh blood, both in the cast and splattered all over the location – the private island of Miles Bron (Edward Norton). It’s a gloriously ridiculous edifice: a landscaped playground booby-trapped with passive-aggressive anti-smoking alarms and populated by Miles’s inner circle of “disruptors”. These include roided-out rightwing YouTuber Duke (Dave Bautista), rising political star Claire (Kathryn Hahn) and PR liability Birdie (Kate Hudson, having what appears to be the most fun an actor has ever had in a role). And then there’s a terrific, frosty Janelle Monáe, whose presence disconcerts the rest of the guests.

But the real star? Johnson’s crisply mischievous screenplay, which crams in so many laughs you almost don’t notice the occasional plot holes.

In cinemas on 23 November for one week; on Netflix from 23 December

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Glass Onion Understands the Absurdity of Extreme Wealth

The sequel to Knives Out is one big, beautiful brainteaser.

Glass Onion begins with a puzzle—or rather, a series of puzzles. Each of the new characters in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel receives an intricate box packed with gears and motors that crank out riddles and codes. Once they’re deciphered, the package unveils an invitation to a weekend getaway on a remote island owned by a wealthy acquaintance. It’s a classic murder-mystery setup. But the true pleasure comes not from the cleverness of the puzzles, but from the recipients’ split-screened reactions, which efficiently reveal their personalities and gripes.

The best whodunits, after all, understand that the most compelling question isn’t actually who did it. The culprit matters little if the motive isn’t interesting—which is why the genre’s most enduring works impress with emotional, not just structural, complexity. The passengers of the Orient Express aren’t simply killers; they want to avenge a ruptured family. The dinner guests in Clue aren’t merely playing a game; they are desperate to cover up their past misdeeds. Johnson’s particularly twisty Knives Out follows that formula: The murderer acts out of not only greed, but also jealousy over his victim’s unexpected friendship with a sweet, quiet nurse .

Knives Out became a word-of-mouth hit when it arrived in theaters in 2019, and given the spate of eat-the-rich programming that’s come out in recent years, Johnson could have easily copied his own work for the sequel and found a captive audience. But Glass Onion (which dropped in select theaters yesterday and will run for a week before hitting Netflix next month) wisely avoids trying to top its predecessor’s sentimentality. Rather, the film pushes deeper into playfulness, while still maintaining a poignant streak. Like the beachside wardrobe the cast dons for its sun-kissed retreat, the movie is colorful and breezy. Glass Onion is mayhem-filled fun, best enjoyed with a crowd.

Read: Rian Johnson turned the whodunit on its head

For starters, no gory crime scene in a New England mansion casts a pall over the proceedings; this time, the uber-rich characters are embarking on a vacation in Greece, because it’s May 2020 and they could really use an escape from, you know, the whole pandemic thing. “I can breathe again,” the former model Birdie (played by Kate Hudson) sighs after removing her “mask”—a thin layer of mesh that fails to hide her nose and mouth. Their host, and the sender of the elaborate puzzle boxes, is Miles Bron (Edward Norton), a hippie-dippie biotech CEO who spouts koans any chance he gets and calls the group his fellow “disruptors.” He’s gathered them for a murder-mystery party, but his island hideaway is built for maximum amusement of all kinds: Robot dogs help carry the luggage, a stash of Jared Leto’s kombucha keeps everyone buzzed, and the actual Mona Lisa is on display in the art gallery, on loan from the Louvre, because why not? He has outfitted the island to his every ridiculous (and ridiculously tasteless) whim, which only makes things funnier when his meticulously prepared operation goes awry.

Because of course it does—although saying more about the plot would ruin the many delights of watching the story unfold. Besides, the lineup is delectable enough: There’s Andi (Janelle Monáe), Miles’s bitter co-founder and ex; Claire (Kathryn Hahn), the tightly wound governor of Connecticut; Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), Miles’s anxious head scientist; Duke (Dave Bautista), an insecure men’s-rights influencer, and his girlfriend, Whiskey (Madelyn Cline); and finally, the oblivious Birdie and her overburdened assistant, Peg (Jessica Henwick). These kooky characters are nouveau riche—save for Peg—and they all have a bone to pick with their host. Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who doesn’t know Miles personally, believes he’s been invited only to assist with the tycoon’s mystery game. Yet he fits in better with this crowd than he did with the stuffy old-money types of Knives Out , who treated his Foghorn Leghorn accent as a punch line.

For a solid stretch of Glass Onion , Detective Blanc’s presence is the sole indication that this film is a whodunit. Johnson’s script smartly withholds the first instance of violence: The writer-director knows viewers expect the faux murder mystery to transform into a real one, so his restraint keeps their attention on getting to know the guests. Rather than relying on the characters’ suspicions of one another, the movie dials up the tension by toying with its audience’s assumptions about how long the party’s good-vibes-only mood will last.

The result is a contraption of a movie that lets everyone—on- and off-screen—participate in solving the mystery that unfolds. The air among these guests is so icy, something else must be behind both Miles’s plan and everyone’s reason for being there. Glass Onion liberally deploys flashbacks and scenes from different characters’ points of view, yet no minute feels wasted, even when the same moments get replayed. The top-notch cast revels in their respective roles as self-proclaimed geniuses. Norton plays Miles with an overflowing smarm that brings to mind any one of several “visionaries” making headlines lately. Monáe is deliciously enigmatic, at once snobbish and sensitive. Hudson appears to be having fun for the first time since her run of rom-coms in the late 2000s. And Craig, now that he’s fully past playing 007, seems even looser in his role this time around, delivering every silly Blanc-ism—“Fiddlesticks!”—with southern-fried aplomb.

In an interview with my colleague David Sims after the release of Knives Out , Johnson pointed out that whodunits are “uniquely suited to talking about class.” Glass Onion continues that trend, observing the absurd privileges of wealth and skewering the ignorance of the 1 percent. Moguls can all too easily be mistaken for masterminds, and entertainers for entrepreneurs who know what everyday people need. The opinions of the rich and famous seep casually into more arenas than they should, Glass Onion suggests. So, like the gift boxes that kick off the action, the story challenges the supposed intelligence of the moneyed few, over and over, one puzzle at a time.

Den of Geek

Glass Onion Review: Rian Johnson Eats the Rich with All Knives Out

Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig deepen the mystery of Benoit Blanc and his investigations of the wealthy elite via the supremely entertaining Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

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Ladies and gentlemen, imagine if you will a billionaire who has the temerity to burn through a fortune in order to stroke his own ego. More incredulous still, imagine if that same billionaire’s ego-boost requires him to surround himself not with friends but folks who hate him and wish him unwell. Even the sycophants, with their smiles plastered bright, barely conceal a grimace of spiteful idolatry and envy.

No, I’m not describing the news reports surrounding Elon Musk’s Twitter quagmire , but the setup for Glass Onion , which as its full title reminds us is also “A Knives Out Mystery.”

Having already played the festival circuit after receiving the greenlight more than a year ago, it’s some kind of serendipity that the movie is only now coming to Netflix. This is not to say writer-director Rian Johnson could predict Musk’s precise folly in decimating a popular social media app in only a handful of months. But like his and Daniel Craig ’s delightful sleuthing creation, Benoit Blanc, Johnson is a keen observer of hubris, vanity, and all the other ugly human traits that can make for a toxic personality, yet also a beautiful murder mystery.

The filmmaker of course follows in the footsteps of other giants in the whodunnit subgenre, but what makes Knives Out and Glass Onion such satisfying potboilers is they aspire to more than confound and intrigue with a case of murder and side of red herrings. Those elements are at play too, and on an almost epic scale in the latest release. However, both movies also act as indictments of class and wealth in this country, both in how such statuses are valued and, ultimately, worshiped. Privilege creates mystique, and mystique is just another word for building obfuscating layers that blur the truth—until, to wit John Lennon, you’re looking inside a glass onion.

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One difference between Glass Onion and its predecessor though is that even Craig’s reliably “Southern” sleuth is not sure what he’s looking for in this go-round. Perhaps that’s why he is more uneasy in Glass Onion than Knives Out —and also more acutely aware that the game is afoot when he’s invited to a private Greek island owned by the eccentric tech billionaire Miles Bron ( Edward Norton ).

As it turns out, Silicon Valley poster boy Miles hosts bizarre parties for his oldest friends every year, and during the film’s setting at the height of the pandemic, Miles has decided to invite those same pals (who’ve all benefited from his wealth) to his private Greek estate to play a murder mystery game. This also explains the decision to invite the great gentleman of leisure and deduction, Benoit Blanc.

Nonetheless, you don’t need to be the world’s greatest detective to deduce something is off when folks arrive at the yacht headed for Miles’ island. After all, Blanc is the only person who isn’t part of this friend group… though he’s far from the only interloper since even Miles’ former business partner, and now social outcast, Andi Brand ( Janelle Monáe ), is also in surprise attendance. Folks may be there to play murder mystery pantomime, but the more Benoit hears about all parties’ histories with one another and their strained “friendships” with Miles, the more he’s convinced one of them may want Miles dead. And the sun is setting.

In its construct, Glass Onion is a grander affair than Knives Out . The board is still set as a locked room mystery in its essence, with seven suspects, however there is a scope that maximizes the formula. Set on an entire villa in the sun-kissed Aegean, and told across an expansive 140 minutes, Glass Onion is happy to take its time. Instead of relying on a barrage of contradictory flashbacks and anecdotes, audiences and Benoit Blanc get to observe the suspects in real time. We also have a front row seat to study the delusional conceit of Miles Bron, who invites a collection of supplicants who each have reason to wish him dead to his home, and then is surprised when Blanc points out it’s not a good idea to have them also fantasize about his murder. Whoops.

As the collection of suspects, all the performers swing big, drawing characters who are arguably more outlandish and cartoony than the Thrombey family in Knives Out . Yet they’re also somewhat excused for their gaucheness: It’s new money, and all that. Audiences will likely be eager to enjoy Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista , who arrive as the most absurd characters, Birdie Jay and Duke Cody, respectively. One is a disgraced fashion guru who’s settled into the infamy of social media celebrity due to posting whatever comes into her head, and the other is a Twitch influencer who knows exactly what he’s doing when hawking “boner pills” to video gamers alongside his much younger girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline).

But there’s also Kathryn Hahn as a newly minted governor-elect, Leslie Odom Jr. as Miles’ put-upon second in command, and finally Monáe’s mysterious Andi. Just as Knives Out made Ana de Armas something of a household name, we imagine Glass Onion will bring Monáe’s talent to a much wider audience. Her decision to come back and face all these people who betrayed her is the real mystery of the movie, at least until the Grim Reaper visits the kooky clan. And it’s her righteous fury with the group that most captures Blanc’s attention.

Given the film’s lengthier setup, Glass Onion is able to better sketch its suspects and players than Knives Out . However, it is that slightly indulgent streak by Johnson that makes his first mystery movie the more enticing. Whereas Knives Out taunts by making you think it revealed the killer in the first act, Glass Onion teases in a more restless way, waiting just as long for a body to hit the floor.

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Still, each element contributes to the larger satire Johnson is building. Craig is once again so jovial that the actor’s glee is infectious. And this time, the character is himself a mystery, and not just because his accent seems to defy any actual cadence of the Deep South. Here is a detective who loves unmasking the murders and machinations of the elite, but who also visibly loathes their company. So his eagerness to party with a billionaire in Glass Onion is initially surprising… and compelling. Only after Glass Onion ’s thoroughly knotty and unpredictable tangles have been straightened does it then become clear that perhaps it is not the truth of foul deeds that Benoit seeks at all; rather he’s the child picking at a house of cards, just eager to see what kind of mess he can make.

The one Blanc and Johnson create in Glass Onion is a fine shamble, indeed. It also suggests we are only part way through the character and artists’ larger work. If that’s true, I for one cannot wait for them to complete the triptych.

Glass Onion is streaming on Netflix now.

David Crow | @DCrowsNest

David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

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Glass Onion is louder, sillier, and sunnier than Knives Out

Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig’s whodunit series goes big and broad as it moves to Netflix

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This review was originally published in conjunction with Glass Onion’s theatrical release. It has been updated and republished for the movie’s streaming release.

A lot of things worked together to make Rian Johnson’s 2019 whodunit Knives Out a hit. Like Johnson’s loving magpie’s eye for a discarded genre, ripe for picking. Or the spectacle of Daniel Craig cutting loose as camp detective Benoit Blanc, cheekily jumping the gun on the end of his tenure as James Bond. And then there’s the top-to-bottom immaculate casting: Don Johnson is a sleazy, useless, gold-digging husband, because of course he is!

But perhaps the most significant boost to the film’s success is the perfection of its Pinterest-ready mood board, expressed in its brilliant production design, costuming, and cinematography . Chunky fall knits and sharp tweed overcoats; Jamie Lee Curtis resplendent in fuchsia, topped with a shock of white hair; Chris Evans’ growling 1970s BMW and beloved cabled sweater; overcast skies and low, cool November light; a halo of knives as decor; a universe of creepy knickknacks, all stuffed into a creaking New England mansion, somberly redolent of the Old World. (But as Rian Johnson’s script wickedly notes, purchased from a Pakistani real-estate mogul in the 1980s.) It’s a clever, funny movie that holds its self-consciousness at just the right distance, and its style is on point.

Consider the mood board for the Netflix-funded sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , which once again explores mind games and murder most foul among the most privileged. This time around, it’s a Porsche hypercar rotating on a roof-mounted turntable; azure seas and skies under a blazing Greek sun; personalized cocktail glasses and chiming smartphones; glass sculptures and gizmos adorning a fantasy tech palace with a huge, onion-shaped cupola; loud prints, loose linens, neckerchiefs, sun hats, and a codpiece-mounted handgun.

All of which is to say that Glass Onion is a brighter, louder, more extroverted movie than the first Knives Out . Its themes and fashion flirt with brazen, cartoony silliness. This time around, Johnson aims for big ideas and big laughs — this is a funnier movie, almost an outright comedy at times, and a broad one at that. Where Knives Out targets the defensive pretension of inherited wealth, Glass Onion mocks the desperate peacocking of new money, in a world of tech billionaires, influencers, and flash-in-the-pan politicians. As before, though, the gentlemanly Benoit Blanc is here to strip these people’s illusions away with comic courtesy.

Also as before, Glass Onion starts as a murder mystery which seems like it might lack an actual murder. The death of crime writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) in Knives Out is investigated at different times as a suicide or an accident, and Johnson delighted in saving the nature of the crime and the identity of the criminal until the very end.

This time, there’s only play-acting. Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who has made an unimaginable fortune from a vague tech platform called Alpha, has invited a motley group of friends to his private Greek island for their annual reunion. He calls them his “disruptors”: a stressed liberal politician (Kathryn Hahn), a scientific genius who works for Bron (Leslie Odom Jr.), a crass meninist Twitch streamer (Dave Bautista), and an air-headed former model (Kate Hudson) with a line in fancy sweatpants, which is booming because it’s 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic has everyone working from home.

Everyone is surprised at the arrival of Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), who built Alpha with Miles, but whom he ruthlessly cut out of the company. Everyone seems equally surprised when Benoit Blanc is invited along, Blanc included. But Bron has planned a murder mystery party where he will be the “victim,” so at least the world’s greatest detective fits the theme. Revealing any more would interfere with the intricate clockwork of Johnson’s scheme — but of course someone ends up dead for real, and someone has an interest in making sure there’s a celebrity sleuth on the scene.

While Johnson is a deep admirer of Agatha Christie ’s classic mysteries, the gamesmanship of their construction isn’t enough for him. He feels the need to play games with the game of whodunit itself. What if the murderer didn’t commit the murder? What if the victim isn’t the target? Rather than lifting the curtain on his artifice at the conclusion, as he did in Knives Out , in Glass Onion , he takes a big gamble and lifts it halfway through. At that point, he flips the script and rewinds the plot to play again from the start, with every event and many characters cast in a new light.

Structurally, it’s quite a magic trick. Some of the devices he uses to pull it off are pretty hoary, but that choice seems suitable for such a winking, theatrical enterprise, and the work is sound: All the pieces fit together. The gamble has other consequences, however. Some characters are deepened and enriched by the shift in perspective, but others are flattened. Crucially, genre conventions require Johnson to pull off a reveal at the conclusion to match the surprise of the twist he engineered halfway through, but when he gets there, it turns out he’s run himself out of options, and the payoff doesn’t land as it should.

By then, though, Johnson is less interested in fingering the murderer than in taking down the characters’ whole world in a blaze of glory. In Knives Out , made in the immigration-obsessed Trump era, he asked whose country America is, anyway, and picked a side with his stunning closing shot. In Glass Onion , made amid the dissociation of COVID, he just lashes out left and right at a series of easy targets: the utopian fantasies of Big Tech, the hypocrisy of liberal politics, the fatuousness of online image-making. It’s muddled stuff, embodied in a gaggle of callow caricatures that he struggles to establish a natural kinship between.

They still pop off the screen, though, assisted by Jenny Eagan’s extravagant costumes. Bautista manages to be both boorish and puppyish as Duke, the insecure man-child trapped in the body of a rocky outcrop. Hudson is hilarious as Birdie, a queen of glamorous idiocy who’s been canceled for her tweets so many times that her assistant won’t let her touch her phone. Norton, as the absurd Elon Musk-alike, mines a deep seam of douchiness without dimming his immense charisma — it’s a joy to see him back at the center of a big, flashy Hollywood production, and to be reminded of what a star he is. Monáe, in the most sophisticated and multifaceted role, shines with a sincerity, a simmering anger, and a realness that the others cannot touch.

This is also a film in which we get to watch Daniel Craig play Among Us in the bath with the late Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim over Zoom. The film riffs on Craig’s macho Bond image in some delightful, surprising ways, but Craig and Johnson both push the dapper detective, with his pronounced Southern drawl, in a more cartoonish direction — away from Agatha Christie’s famed detective Hercule Poirot, and toward his parody descendant, The Pink Panther ’s Inspector Clouseau. Unlike Peter Sellers’ idiot investigator, Benoit Blanc is no fool, but as he descends into a swimming pool dressed in a striped two-piece bathing suit and a cravat, he does look a bit like a figure of fun.

Does it matter? Not so much. A great sleuth, like Peter Falk’s Columbo — to whom Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne will soon pay tribute in their detective series Poker Face — does not need to have hidden depths. They are the keys that turn the lock, open the door, and let the light in on our failings. We don’t need to know why they do it, but we do ask they do it with style. As flashy, fun, star-studded entertainment, Glass Onion certainly does that.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now streaming on Netflix.

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Glass onion: a knives out mystery, common sense media reviewers.

Sharp, layered mystery sequel; smoking, drinking, cursing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Like most murder mysteries, "you can't get away wi

Benoit Blanc is very smart and has razor sharp ski

Several main characters are White, but some divers

Shooting, with blood seepage. Apparent choking. Sp

A woman wears skimpy/slinky clothes; a scene shows

Strong language throughout, including: "ass," "a--

Apple products seen and mentioned by name. Beer br

Drinking throughout: cocktails, liquor, hard kombu

Parents need to know that Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is, like the original Knives Out , a comedic murder mystery centering on private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). While the first movie followed an extended family, the sequel's cast is more like a "family" of influencer friends, and…

Positive Messages

Like most murder mysteries, "you can't get away with murder" is the overarching message. Also a theme that even society's most fabulous personalities, including billionaires and supermodels, are no smarter or better than anyone else. Themes include courage, integrity, teamwork.

Positive Role Models

Benoit Blanc is very smart and has razor sharp skills when it comes to observation and deduction. Some characters demonstrate courage, integrity, and teamwork.

Diverse Representations

Several main characters are White, but some diversity in cast: a brilliant Black scientist, a Black woman CEO; an actor of East Asian descent plays a positively depicted supporting character. A Filipino Greek actor plays an obnoxious but affable central character. A Jewish actor plays a supermodel (her character shares that she experienced repercussions for using the word "Jew-y"), and Black and Jewish celebrities are featured in cameos. But one female character has almost no dimension beyond being sexy.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Shooting, with blood seepage. Apparent choking. Spear gun shot but misses target. A couple of hard slaps. One character wears a gun at all times and shoots it into the air. Characters are distressed at the idea of a killer on the loose. Fire and explosions.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A woman wears skimpy/slinky clothes; a scene shows her kissing and straddling someone on a bed while wearing a bikini. Quick glimpse of a sex toy and condoms. Statue of a nude male torso, seen from the backside.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language throughout, including: "ass," "a--hole," "bitch," "boner," "boobs," "goddamn," "s--t," "s--tballs," "s--theads," "shut up," "taint," "t--ties," and two uses of "f--k." Middle-finger gesture. "Jesus!" used as an exclamation.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Apple products seen and mentioned by name. Beer brands visible. Expensive car is recognized by brand and used as a recurring punchline.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Drinking throughout: cocktails, liquor, hard kombucha, beer, wine. Alcohol consumption fuels a couple of key moments in the plot. In one instance, it's shown to enhance someone's abilities. Aspirational characters smoke and vape. A comical side character drinks and appears to smoke pot.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is, like the original Knives Out , a comedic murder mystery centering on private detective Benoit Blanc ( Daniel Craig ). While the first movie followed an extended family, the sequel's cast is more like a "family" of influencer friends, and the film pokes fun at the types of people currently ruling pop culture: the billionaire genius ( Edward Norton ), the supermodel ( Kate Hudson ), the celebrity scientist ( Leslie Odom Jr. ), the politician ( Kathryn Hahn ), and a YouTuber ( Dave Bautista ). The ultimate takeaway is that the rich, famous, and powerful aren't any smarter, better, or savvier than anyone else. But these are wealthy, extravagant characters, and constant drinking is part of their glamorous aesthetic. Blanc also smokes cigars, and other characters vape and smoke pot. A supporting character known as Whiskey wears revealing clothes and is shown aggressively kissing and sitting astride a clothed man. There's also a long conversation about "boobs"; other language includes "ass," "s--t," and a couple of uses of "f--k." And, given that this is a murder mystery, expect a couple of non-graphic deaths, plus weapons use (guns, spear gun), fire, and explosions. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (23)
• Kids say (33)

Based on 23 parent reviews

Layered, Heavily Comedic Sequel

It serves up a good mystery . . . with plenty of things lacking, what's the story.

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY takes place in the summer of 2020. Private detective Benoit Blanc ( Daniel Craig ) is pulled out of his pandemic depression when a puzzle box arrives at his door with an invitation to attend a murder mystery party. Once he gets to the private island of visionary billionaire Miles Bron ( Edward Norton ), who's also invited several famous celebrity guests, Blanc realizes that the murder mystery game has set the stage for an actual murder to occur.

Is It Any Good?

Writer-director Rian Johnson slices and dices social influencers with sharp humor here, leaving viewers wiping away tears of laughter. This satirical whodunit peels back the layers of modern-day movers and shakers to reveal that, when you get to the core of an arrogant genius, a fabulous fashionista, or a blowhard YouTuber, there's often nothing there. For adults, it's a wink. Teens might need a little help to understand the brilliance of Glass Onion 's title, but even if they don't put it all together, the comedy pierces celebrity/privileged culture in plenty of other, more obvious ways. In other words, it's hard to imagine that anyone over the age of 13 or 14 won't enjoy Johnson's Benoit Blanc sequel.

Is it better than Knives Out ? Well, no, because with that excellent film, Johnson reinvigorated the entire murder mystery genre. It felt so refreshingly new in 2019, and in the three years since its release, others have tried their hand at the whodunit with some pretty impressive productions -- meaning the bar is even higher now. But still, Glass Onion rolls as one continuous slick burn. And if there's one thing we know about onions, it's that when they're raw, they bite, but the longer they cook, the sweeter they become.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Benoit Blanc compares to Agatha Christie detectives like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Why do you think fictional detectives are often given eccentricities or quirks?

Do you think that Glass Onion glamorizes drinking and smoking ? Why, or why not?

Discuss the meaning of the title and how it's layered throughout the film.

What are the hallmarks of a murder mystery? How does this one compare to others you've seen?

How do characters demonstrate courage , integrity , and teamwork ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 18, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : December 23, 2022
• Cast : Daniel Craig , Janelle Monáe , Edward Norton
• Director : Rian Johnson
• Inclusion Information : Non-Binary actors, Pansexual actors, Queer actors, Black actors
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Friendship
• Character Strengths : Courage , Integrity , Teamwork
• Run time : 139 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : March 14, 2023

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Glass Onion (United States, 2022)

Having recently given up one franchise (the James Bond one), Daniel Craig wasted no time jumping feet-first into another. Although Rian Johnson’s Knives Out , which introduced Craig as super-sleuth Benoit Blanc, arrived in theaters in advance of No Time to Die , the one-off murder mystery didn’t become a series until after Craig was done with 007. Glass Onion (full clunky title: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery ), made with Netflix money, is the second chapter of what is now a proposed trilogy. If the third film does well, more may be forthcoming. In general, Craig seems to enjoy playing Blanc more than Bond, in large part because of the chasm of physicality between the two characters.

Glass Onion may not be better than its predecessor but it’s in the same neighborhood. Although returning only one cast member (Craig), many of the structural elements have been retained. The movie skews a little more toward comedy than Knives Out and the whodunnit? aspects aren’t as forcefully emphasized. The witty dialogue and narrative twists are strengths and Blanc remains a blank slate. He’s the main character but we know little about him (outside of a few background snippets revealed during the earlier story); the only new bit of information offered by Glass Onion is that he’s bad at the game of Clue!

Glass Onion doesn’t attempt to replicate Knives Out , although it uses the conceit of repeating and “filling in” scenes with new information. In this case, the main storyline is mostly completed shortly past the running time’s midpoint. Johnson then rewinds events back to the beginning and shows all the things lost in the cracks and/or not properly emphasized the first time around. This allows the viewer to organically recognize who the culprit is and why/how they did it. It’s a more satisfying approach than Hercule Poirot’s standard “gather all the suspects together and unveil the guilty party” (although Kenneth Branagh has done a good job with that in his recent Poirot adaptations).

Glass Onion is funnier than almost any other 2022 film (even those marketed as pure comedies) and more entertaining than many of the bloated would-be blockbusters dotting the release schedule. Johnson has no political ax to grind and his scripts play to the strengths of his actors. Craig in particular is delightful. He has no stunts to perform and allows a more relaxed, comedic aspect to shine through. We’ve seen this side of him before but it suits him now that he’s into his mid-fifties.

With an eye toward both maximizing revenue and qualifying for Oscar nominations, Netflix has orchestrated an unprecedented wide release for the film prior to its streaming availability. The one-week limited window (which runs from November 23 through November 29, 2022) provides access to those who prefer to see the film in a theater and/or want to see it a month before it drops on Netflix. The wave of the future? Whether or not that’s the case, this is hands-down the best high-profile, crowd-pleaser that Netflix has ever released. It delivers , which hasn’t been the case with the likes of Red Notice and The Grey Man . It makes me yearn to see more of Benoit Blanc and experience what other deliciously serpentine stories Johnson has hidden up his sleeves. After enduring one pointless sequel after another, it's refreshing to be able to make that claim. Glass Onion is a late year present from a director who rarely disappoints.

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• (There are no more better movies of this genre)
• Clue (1985)
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The (2011) (2011)
• Munich (2005)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• Invasion, The (2007)
• Dream House (2011)
• Golden Compass, The (2007)
• Fight Club (1999)
• Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut) (1969)
• Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
• Collateral Beauty (2016)
• Primal Fear (1996)
• Pride and Glory (2008)
• Moonlight (2016)
• Hidden Figures (2016)
• Harriet (2019)
• (There are no more worst movies of Janelle Monae)

Episode # 344 Glass Onion with Paul Costello and Emma Kathryn from The Yearbook Committee Podcast

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• April 30, 2024 (United States)
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'A Man in Full' review: Tom Wolfe Netflix series is barely a glass half empty

Don't judge a book by its cover, but can you judge a TV show by its A-list pedigree ? Don't bet on it.

Netflix's new Atlanta mogul miniseries "A Man in Full" certainly looks like it should be the next big thing to take over our binge-watching hours. Created by David E. Kelley and directed partly by Regina King , "Man" has all the makings of prestige television: Movie stars as the lead characters. A literary tome (Tom Wolfe's 1998 novel) as its source material. Topical storytelling. Lots of profanity.

But looks can be deceiving. "Man" (now streaming; ★ ½ out of four) is that rare disappointment that adds up to less than the sum of its parts. The series is half-formed, a rough draft for something better down the line. And all the fake Southern accents from the likes of Jeff Daniels, Diane Lane and Lucy Liu can't magically create deeper characters, better scripts, or a fuller world to immerse yourself in. It's the fast fashion of television: Trendy, pretty, but very easily falls apart.

Interview: Jeff Daniels loads up for loathing in 'A Man in Full' with big bluster, Georgia accent

Charlie Croker (Daniels) is the favorite son of Atlanta. A Georgia Tech football hero turned real estate mogul, he has everything a man of distinction could want: Money, power, a beautiful young second wife (Sarah Jones) and the adoration of high society. Except one of those things is only a facade: Croker's companies are nearly a billion dollars in debt, and the bank has come calling. That charge is led by mousy Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey), a middle manager whose hatred of Charlie goes beyond professional rivalry, and Harry Zale (Bill Camp), an alpha male wannabe out to beat Charlie in the financial arena.

In chaos and about to lose everything, Charlie turns to his chief counsel, Roger White (Aml Ameen), a man with a strongly ingrained sense of justice, who tries to keep his hands clean amid the dirty dealings in Atlanta. Roger is currently being hounded by his old fraternity brother and incumbent mayor Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper, "The Good Place") for help digging up dirt on his conservative opponent. And Roger is trying to help Conrad (Jon Michael Hill), a Black man who has been arrested after a racially fraught run-in with law enforcement.

Rounding out the already unwieldy story is Martha Croker (Lane), Charlie's ex-wife with plenty of hate for her former spouse, and her best friend Joyce Newman (Liu), who is trying to keep part of her past a secret amid the politicking in the city's elite.

It's a lot, and Kelley and the writers are never clear about who the star of this story really is. Is it Charlie, an Ozymandias-type king doomed to fail under his own hubris? Is it Raymond, the Iago channeling his insecurities into war with a stronger opponent? Is it Roger, a Black man torn up on the inside, a Don Quixote unsure about the realities of the world?

I'm using a lot of high-minded literary references because "Man" fancies itself a high-minded work of art, all metaphor, allegory and foils, the language of Wolfe's novel. But these devices are so weak they blow away in the wind.

The series misses the building blocks of good storytelling in pursuit of the cherries on top of the sundae. The characters aren't nearly deep enough, and it's impossible to discern most of their motivations. That's especially true of Harry, who hates Charlie for no good reason, and Martha, who has no personality that isn't related to her ex-husband. Joyce is a plot device dressed in fashionable high heels, and Charlie's wife Serena marks a criminal underuse of Jones, who proved herself deeply skilled in "For All Mankind."

Atlanta is the setting but it's meant to be more than that. It's meant to be the context of every scene and sentence of dialogue. It should be as deeply drawn as a fictional world like Westeros or Middle Earth. But other than Daniels' accent and the racist judge that Conrad faces, "Man" could be set in any major city in America. And that's not good enough.

Speaking of that accent, Daniels slathers it on his performance like too much gravy on biscuits. He seems to ooze rather than act. He's a cartoon character, which would work if the series was purely a soap opera. But it's trying. (and failing) to be more important than a soap. In one moment you see two horses mating and in another, a Black man is being swallowed whole by a legal system designed to ruin his life. The two halves don't mesh together.

There's a sense that Netflix was attempting to cash in on the lifestyles of the rich and famous schadenfreude from HBO's hit "Succession," which ended last year. But "Man" fails to achieve the scope or satire that made "Succession" so successful. There's a watchable quality you can find in any of Kelley's series. But the sheen wears off quickly. It's not addictive or delicious, no "Big Little Lies" or "Ally McBeal" drama to keep you wanting more.

Charlie can wax poetic about loyalty and goodness and masculinity all he wants, but at a certain point, "Man" becomes too easy to tune out.

And at that point, you might as well turn it off, too.