Glass Onion review

Rian Johnson's Knives Out was one of the best films of 2019, and certainly one of the freshest. It had been ages since we had seen such a supremely entertaining murder mystery.

Netflix gave Johnson hundreds of millions of dollars to do some sequels. The first of them is Glass Onion, which luckily enough was given a 1 week theatrical release (although with sold out shows all Thanksgiving weekend you can bet that will be extended).

And, I dare say that Glass Onion is just as good. It's certainly funnier. I laughed more at this movie than almost any actual comedy in a long time.

It's a whole new cast and setting, aside from Daniel Craig once again as Benoit Blanc, the master detective. The movie actually is set early in the pandemic, so Blanc has been cooped up with no mystery to solve. 

But then he gets an invitation to a weekend murder mystery party at the island home of an absurdly rich tech billionaire (Edward Norton). Also on hand are a colorful collection of his friends and colleagues: Janelle Monae, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline. 

The idea is that Norton is going to pretend to be murdered and everyone has to solve the murder. Of course things go off the rails, in delightful fashion. Like with the first film, there is a moment in the middle of the film where the story kind of flips and what we think we are watching becomes something else. 

I don't know how many more times Johnson can so skillfully spin one of these, but structurally this film is just as clever as its predecessor. It feels almost attuned to what a viewer might be thinking. Halfway through I had two major issues: 1. Why is Blanc seemingly such an idiot this time? and 2. Why was I hearing such hype about Monae's performance?

The back half of the film answers both. Monae is fucking incredible in this, finally fulfilling every bit of that movie star promise she has shown in other roles. Craig is consistently wonderful again. Norton is a lot of fun, and how timely to present a character who is a tech billionaire who acts like a genius but is in actuality a complete idiot. 

I don't think the overall ensemble is quite as good as in Knives Out, but this is easily my favorite performance ever from Hudson, Hahn is very funny, Bautista is a lot of fun playing a total prick, and Cline, who I had never seen before, makes a lot more out of her role than expected.

It's one of my favorite movies of the year for sure. I know there will be more of these films coming. I hope a lot more.