It is in the nature of cinema that when a popular and well-loved movie is big enough, the sequel to the movie almost tries to top it off in the way of going home or going home. For a long time, each new James Bond adventure was more scalable, baroque and resourceful than the previous one. “The Godfather Part II” was darker and longer than “The Godfather,” “The Empire Strikes Back” heightened “Star Wars” and “Terminator 2: Judgment” made the first Terminator look like a simple trinket.
So how does that apply to “The Glass Onion: A Puzzle That Knives Off”? Three years ago, Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” was a smooth, retro crime set in the mansion of murdered mystery novelist, which not only evoked Agatha Christie’s storytelling but expanded Christie’s genre into something delicious in his superior intelligence. At a time when comic book films, action films, and other forms of action fiction are in the final stages of killing everything else, Knives Out has been a saluting reminder that the film’s setting we associate with old Hollywood dialogue is of airy intensity, wit, and flawed characters. Very human, plot twists and turns so you follow her anywhere – she can still make a valid stand in the megaplex. Daniel Craig had it all together as Benoit Blanc, the southern gentleman in the movie who reimagined the character of Hercules Poirot/Sherlock Holmes, whose deceptive genius made him, for some of us, more than any superhero.
Since Knives Out was a piece of popular perfection, what could Johnson do to make an appearance? “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a thriller and daring enough to have a Beatles song in its title, even if the title doesn’t refer directly to the Beatles (though the song appears on the closing credits). It describes, instead, the gorgeous onion-shaped glass room atop a palace, located on an island off the coast of Greece, that belongs to Miles Bron, the ambitious, famous and ridiculous tech billionaire, who plays with amusing arrogance by Ed Norton (think of Elon Musk and … well, that’s it), who gathered five of his old friends on a three-day vacation. The insanely luxurious intensity of the palace setting, far from the prying eyes of civilization, ups the ante on the old home of the first movie. Once the movie begins, much of it takes place in a living room filled with tiny glass sculptures, postmodern furniture, and flashy, conflicting artwork. (It’s like the most intelligent cave in the world.)
In the opening sequence, each character is summoned by having the same solid wooden box delivered to their house, which contains a series of puzzles they are meant to solve, each puzzle unlocking the next. This is a metaphor for how the movie works. Even more so than the first “Knives Out” movie, “Glass Onion” is a thriller wrapped up in a trick hidden inside a puzzle. It’s, of course, a murder mystery with several suspects (the phrase “glass onions” also describes the puzzle we’ll be peeling its layers), but it also comes with flashbacks and recall bells and whistles, not to mention two murders for the price of one.
The movie was set shortly after the pandemic began, so invitees are grateful to be there. (The throat was sprayed by assistant Miles, played by Ethan Hawke, who for some reason was never seen again.) They each have earned a noteworthy place in the world by turning into a kind of “chaos.” And they owe their success to Miles, who financed them all. But this gives everyone an incentive to kill.
Claire DeBella (Catherine Hahn), the governor of Connecticut, is a former soccer mom who deals with the political machine. Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) is an influencer on Yahoo who became the first person to gain 1 million followers on Twitch (a fictional social media site). Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) is a former model who has used her scandalous fame – recently canceled due to a Beyonce Halloween costume – to oversee an athletic empire. Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a scientist who works for Miles. And Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe) is Miles’ ex-business partner, who loses everything during the hostile split with him but is invited to the island to make up, and he agrees to come because… well, why would you then that movie became the number one mystery.
The second 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. However, he does not mind the presence of Blanc. Miles, you see, staged a murder-and-mystery weekend game, where he’d be “killed,” and the presence of the world’s greatest detective would make it even more fun. Early on, Miles Blanc took to the glass onion, and as a square, Blanc seems a bit tentative. Is it over his head? barely.
Part of what made “Knives Out” great is that, despite all the ingenuity of the mystery plot, there was a teasing of humanity. We’ve seen the clash and ego bite in every character. In “Glass Onion,” Johnson ups the ante on that, too. Drawing on the captivating vibe of 1973’s “The Last of Sheila,” the writer and director introduces us to a cast of showboats of characters with snappy ambition. They met Miles years ago, when he was long-haired Nobody at a New York bar called Glass Onion. But that was then. He’s now paranoid of neo-hippies, owns kombucha, owns the guitar that Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird” on, assigns each guest a room based on chakra, and talks about “past, present, and future” in the same I own – all the same. When everyone gathers in the gallery’s resting space, he reveals the most artistic he has. Let’s just say it’s…a famous painting. One sits behind windshields that shut off if anyone is breathing too hard.
In an infamous scene, Blanc solves the game Miles is trying to play before it happens. That’s just the movie’s idea of an appetizer. “Glass Out” expands into something more extravagant than the first “Knives Out”, which is what you want, even if at times you feel like a little more than you want. Revealing too much would be a crime, but Andy, openly suspicious of her signature blonde look, is the most adorable character, and Janelle Monae invests her with moody indignation that sings like a hidden candle. A flashback reveals why she really exists and who her secret partner is.
Is ‘Glass Onion’ better than Knives Out? not necessarily. But it’s a bigger, funnier, and more detailed chance puzzle game. Craig figured out how to let his satirical performance infiltrate you once again, suspects hovering in a delicious zone between the venomous and the sympathetic. However, for a movie full of surprises, there is something about seeing the killer exposed that seems, perhaps, less satisfying than before. “Glass Onion” is the first sequel to “Knives Out”. It connects perfectly, but next time the knives have to cut deeper.
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