Fans of “Knives Out” in 2019 were excited as they patiently waited on their couches and Netflix home screens for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” the sequel film, to be released. I will warn now for all readers that have not yet seen the sequel (do you live under a freaking rock if you have not seen it yet?) that this article may contain spoilers that could taint your viewing experience. This new addition to the series directed by murder mystery lover and writer, Rian Johnson, introduces the audience to an entirely new world of characters and double crossing relationships.
No longer set in scenic Massachusetts, this time detective Benoit Blanc (who still retains his signature American Southern accent despite having one of the most French names in the world) takes to us a private Greek island. There we get to meet and learn about a group of friends who make a yearly trip to visit their most successful friend: Miles Bron (played by Edward Norton who is infact related to Pocahontas according to a DNA investigation). Invited to the island are Birdie Jay (played by Kate Hudson), her assistant Peg (played by Jessica Henwick), Duke Cody (played by Dave Bautista), Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey (played by Madelyn Cline), Lionel Toussaint (played by Leslie Odom Jr.), and Claire Debella (played by Kathryn Hahn).
But two surprising additions are made to the trip that seem to shock the inner circle of friends. The first is none other than everyone’s favorite non-british detective, Benoit Blanc (played of course by Daniel Craig) and Andi Brand (played by Janelle Monáe). While all of these characters have long histories together stemming from their friendships two things become clear: that Andi and Miles have a more tumultuous history together than the others due to something in their past and that all of the people in this friend group are linked to Miles financially for their careers.
Certainly this means that the kind of friendship which exists between all of them to Miles and vice versa exhibits some true patterns of sympathy and compassion but also patterns of purchased behaviours of friendship and kindness—the perfect stage for a murder mystery! Everyone has a motive and everyone has opportunity! How wonderfully concocted by Johnson to keep us all wondering who could have ever been the one in the room when it happened.
The movie takes place during the beginning of the COVID pandemic so from each character we see very different backgrounds in how each handles themselves and their careers. Birdie is a model without much reverence for pandemic guidelines and seems to be a bit careless when it comes to being politically correct. Peg fights almost aimlessly as her assistant to keep her in line but usually seems defeated as Birdie does it her own way anyhow. Duke and Whiskey are twitch streamers who play into the macho-man end of twitch and gain views by being as “masculine” as possible. Lionel is a chemical scientist working on clean energy and Claire is the governor of Connecticut who is running for a senate position. Despite all of their different backgrounds each one is funded heavily and supported by Miles who made a fortune during the crypto boom. They call themselves the “disruptors.”
The set up for the movie was done classically by Rian as he began to punch out every square in the mystery movie bingo board. Friends with differing interests (check!), friends with unusual connections to one another (check!), weekend trip together on a private island (check!), and two guests who were not supposed to show up (check!). Now all the movie needs is a fun reason for all these friends, plus Blanc, to be together!
Well it’s a murder mystery of course so what else would be the reason? Miles, in organizing this friend vacation, has centered the weekend getaway around his murder. Dun dun dun! Now this murder mystery is simply a game for fun that all of his friends will be doing as an activity over the weekend (and no Miles does not die in this game). So with the characters in place and the stage set all that is left is for this murder mystery machine to be switched into action.
From here on out is where the plot begins to develop and for the sake of others so that no more is revealed or spoiled it will be attempted here to try and provide a personal review of things I thought were interesting in the film so that the plot is not given away.
Where I want to begin is with the man himself Drax! Sorry, excuse me, I mean Dave Bautista. Dave has impressed me in the past with his ability to bring comedy into roles which seem built around his characters simply being beefcakes. Drax from the Marvel Cinematic Universe being one of the best examples of this. Drax is not only strong but perhaps more memorable from this role is Drax’s sense of childish humor which seems to infect audiences with laughter even after a number of rewatches. Here in “Glass Onion” Bautista continues this ability by giving a high degree of depth to Duke with the screen time he is provided. Yes Duke is a muscular man and yes he has his macho-man moments but there is depth behind Duke’s eyes and muscles. He is emotional when it comes to his relationship with Whiskey and truly entrepreneurial as he attempts to grow his brand on twitch. It is something Bautista does well in his roles to remove the characters from the muscles and in “Glass Onion” he certainly continued to do so.
Now how could I write a review of “Glass Onion” if I did not even mention the acting of the undisputed star of this film: Janelle Monáe. Monáe was given one of the most difficult roles for the entire film because of how many hats she had to wear and shoes she had to fill. And no I do not mean here that she had to physically wear a ton of outfits, in this film Monáe took her acting to another level.
To fill the shoes of Ana De Armas from “Knives Out” is an uphill battle any actor has to contend with when following one of her performances. Perhaps I am a huge Ana De Armas fan but she played a pretty airtight role in the first film which was no small feat for the actress. Nevertheless, Monáe was able to do so and her character was no simple role either. In taking this role she had to master two accents, play a bubbly teacher and a heart broken partner, all while keeping those aspects of her character separate and distinct.
For Monáe, she was not simply asked to do one role but to play a handful of them which during the filming and table reading processes during the pandemic could not have been any easy sort of task. Monáe gave the film added layers of mystery and depth which only through great acting could have been achieved and she was there to do so!
I am usually an easy critic when it comes to films as most please me but rarely do I walk away from watching a movie and think “that was something else.” I do not know what the marvelous writer in Rian Johnson has in store for the next installment of the “Knives Out” franchise but after watching the sequel perform to expectations and surpass them—I am confident it will satisfy and be worth the wait.
